Women’s Basketball Prevail over Fanshawe in London

London, ON – The St. Clair College Women's Basketball team bumped their OCAA West Division record to 5-8 on the season Saturday afternoon with an important 57-55 road win over rival Fanshawe College (7-6) in London.

Another defensive battle took place at the Glenn Johnston Athletic Centre as the teams shared 14 turnovers and a 9-9 tie after the first quarter.  The play picked up a little in the second quarter as the Saints worked themselves to a modest 26-22 lead after making five triples in the frame led by Peri Colthurst (Windsor, ON/St. Joseph's) who had three rainbows of her own for 9 points.  Fanshawe had their best performance in the third quarter overtaking St. Clair 47-43 heading to the fourth and after a pair of free throws had their biggest lead at 49-43.  The Saints erased the deficit midway through the final quarter and the teams played within a score the remainder of the battle.  St. Clair's Kaelyn Batten (LaSalle, ON/St. Thomas of Villanova) broke a 55-55 tie scoring the deciding basket with just under a minute to play.  From there the Saints survived on some good defensive plays even though Fanshawe could not convert on the tying free throws with a few seconds remaining on the clock.

The teams both shot under 30% from the floor in the game and even though St. Clair saw a 25-11 inadequacy in fouls, Fanshawe could not make enough (24-for-40, 60%) at the charity stripe to create separation.  The Saints netted 25 points after forcing 25 Fanshawe turnovers in the contest which helped produce a 24-12 advantage in the paint.  St. Clair also outplayed Fanshawe 22-8 in points off the bench. 

Shae-lyn Murphy (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) led the Saints registering a double-double on 14 points and 11 rebounds to go with 4 assists and a pair of steals.  Batten fell just shy of a double-double after finishing with 13 points and 9 rebounds but was a ballhawk for 7 steals.

St. Clair gets back on the road next weekend with a game at Mohawk College (Hamilton) on Friday followed by a visit to Niagara College (Welland) on Saturday. Their final regular season game will be on Feb. 8^th when they host Redeemer University (Ancaster).