Semi-Final Loss puts Women’s Basketball in Bronze Game

Sarnia, ON – The St. Clair College Women's Basketball team came up short in Sarnia Saturday night against Algonquin College (Ottawa) losing 73-58 in their semi-final of the OCAA Final Four Provincial Championship which is being hosted by Lambton College.

A very competitive contest through the first half saw the Saints take a 17-14 lead but Algonquin closed the first quarter well and then went up 18-17 heading to the second.  The Wolves continued that momentum into the next frame building a small cushion, but the Saints overcame the deficit finding themselves up 28-24 with just under five minutes to play in the half.  An 8-0 run put Algonquin back in control and after the teams traded some buckets St. Clair was confronted with a 39-34 halftime shortfall.  But that was as close as the game would be the rest of the way. 

Algonquin stretched their lead to as much as 18 points late in the third quarter and even though both teams had brief runs St. Clair could not make the game interesting down the stretch.  The Saints only converted five triples and shot just over 28% from the floor however Algonquin enjoyed a 63-45 advantage in rebounding while scoring 34 points in the paint. 

Kaitlyn Overeem (Brantford, ON) scored 19 points adding 5 assists and 5 rebounds to go with 3 steals to earn Player of the Game recognition for St. Clair.  Janae Smith (Warren, MI) had a fine performance as well for the Saints scoring 17 points in addition to 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocked shots.

The Saints will now face Niagara College (Welland) in the Bronze Medal on Sunday at 2:30pm.  Host Lambton won 65-50 over Niagara in the other semi-final and will meet Algonquin at 5:00pm in the Gold/Silver Medal game.  St. Clair split the season series with Niagara winning 70-57 December 1^st in Welland but lost 53-52 in Windsor Feb. 4^th.