Women’s Basketball Tripped Up by Niagara

Windsor, ON – The St. Clair College Women's Basketball (11-3) team fell victim to a poor shooting game and dropped a 53-52 decision to Niagara College (Welland) Sunday afternoon at the SportsPlex.

In the early stages Niagara took a small lead and closed the first quarter ahead 15-11 over the Saints.  St. Clair pulled even at 20-20 with six minutes to play before the half but Niagara answered quickly to regain control.  The Saints used an 11-3 run to find themselves leading by halftime in what was proving to be a see-saw affair.  Niagara shut down St. Clair in the third quarter holding the home squad to only two field goals and five points.  The Saints were fortunate to only be trailing Niagara 42-36 to start the fourth quarter and that differential grew to ten points (48-38) with seven minutes to go in the game.  An 11-2 run brought St. Clair to within a score but the final minutes belonged to Niagara who made just enough free throws to secure the road win.

St. Clair was plagued by poor shooting all contest and finished below 20% from the field overall while only making 5-of-40 (12.5%) from three-point land.  The Saints did force Niagara into 31 turnovers but could only capitalize with 18 points. 

Janae Smith (Warren, MI) led the St. Clair in scoring with 15 points and went for a double-double after securing 10 rebounds.  Shae-lyn Murphy (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) scored 13 points to go with 9 rebounds and 5 steals for the Saints while Kaitlyn Overeem (Brantford, ON) was held to just 11 points while adding 7 rebounds and 5 steals. 

The St. Clair Women complete their OCAA West Division regular season schedule on the road next weekend with a game at Conestoga College (Kitchener) on Friday followed by matchup with Redeemer University (Ancaster) on Saturday.