Saints Face 401 Rival Fanshawe in Women’s Basketball Playoff

Windsor, ON – Entering the post-season with an undefeated 8-0 record and as the West Division regular season champion, the St. Clair College Women's Basketball team have secured home court advantage throughout the playoffs.  The Saints will tip their West Division playoff game against 401 rival Fanshawe College (London) at 6:00pm on Wednesday at the SportsPlex.  Wednesday's winner will move onto the ¼ final round on Saturday.  The Saints enter as the #2 ranked team in the province and the #8 team in Canada. 

St. Clair boasts the 2^nd ranked offense in the OCAA scoring 71.8 points per game and the 3^rd best defensive team allowing just 53.4 points per contest.  4^th year guard Logan Kucera (Chatham, ON) is having a tremendous season and leads St. Clair in scoring at 17.1 points (OCAA 8^th) and rebounding at 7.3 per game.  Sister Jana Kucera (Chatham, ON) is averaging 14.5 points per game and leads the Saints in assists at 3.9 per game.  Rookie point guard Shae-Lyn Murphy (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) has found her scoring touch of late and is also averaging double figures at 10.0 points per game to go with 3.5 assists per contest. 

The reigning OCAA Champion Falcons (1-7) qualified for the playoffs as the 8^th seed in the West and lost 57-51 to St. Clair in London in their only regular season match-up on Feb. 15^th.  Fanshawe has the 4^th rated defense in the OCAA allowing their opponents to score just 54.9 points per game.  But scoring has been a problem for Fanshawe with only two Falcons reaching double figures consistently and the 15^th rated overall offense at 51.5 points per game.  2^nd year 6'0" forward Grace Shea (Caledonia, ON) leads Fanshawe in scoring average at 11.4 per game while 3^rd year guard Alison Cotton (London, ON) sits at 10.7 points per game.  But they do clear the glass and protect the rim with Cotton averaging a double-double at 11.4 rebounds per game and 1.3 blocks per game.  3^rd year 6'1" forward Mackenzie Van Dyk (Parkhill, ON) is equally adept grabbing 10.2 rebounds per game and an OCAA 2^nd 3.5 blocks per game. 

The two teams last met in the postseason in 2020 when St. Clair hosted the OCAA Championship with Fanshawe winning the crown and the Saints settling for the Silver Medal.  The plot lines are thick in this game which should make for a competitive atmosphere in an ordinarily mundane 1 versus 8 match-up.