“I think where we’re at now shows where we can be after Christmas, and it’s very promising. “
The Gee-Gees welcomed the Brock Badgers into Montpetit in front of another huge crowd on Nov. 17. The 2-2 Badgers were coming straight off an overtime loss to Carleton the night before, while the Gees had played a close game of their own, taking down Lakehead 70-62.
The Gees won possession off the tip, and the offence didn’t waste any time getting to work. Natsuki Szczokin found Ariane Saumure open in the left corner, and the Western transfer drained the three. This was a good start for the Gees, but not just because they had earned an early lead.
Saumure missed all of her seven field goal attempts against Lakehead, including three from beyond the arc. The hot hand rules above all else in the game of basketball, and the squad has a much more lethal attack if Saumure is that hot hand. The fourth-year averaged 2.3 threes made on just over seven attempts last season for the Mustangs.
Saumure discussed post-game the confidence the early three gave her. “I feel like it just got the momentum going, and just gives you a little more energy, a little boost of energy you can use on both sides of the court.” And boy, was the 5’4” guard active on the defensive end as well. Saumure picked up two steals on the night, to go along with 10 total rebounds.
The quick, diminutive guard also talked about the defensive side of the game. “Nothing’s better working so hard on defence, you cause a deflection, you get your teammate a steal, so you really build the energy on that, and if you play good defence, it just flows into the offence. It’s like a double reward.”
The first-year Gee-Gee finished with 12 points on 4-8 shooting and went 3-4 from the line. Coach Rose-Anne Joly was pleased with Saumure’s progression, saying “We know what she can give us on the defensive side, especially 1-on-1 defence. She’s still struggling a little bit on the offensive side, but I think today she played with confidence. And that’s all it takes really.”
The Gee-Gees were playing for the second night in a row, but it didn’t show on the court. The team was demonstrating some impressive hustle right off the gate, and Joly began deploying a full-court press against the turnover-prone Badgers.
“Brock doesn’t have strong guards, and we wanted to press them as much as we could. We didn’t go that hard, to be honest,” the coach admitted after the game. But press worked. Brock turned the ball over 19 times, several of which were gifted breakaways to the speedy Saumure or Szczokin.
Speaking of Szczokin, the uber-talented 2022-23 OUA Third Team All-Star was leading the charge offensively for the Gees. The point guard dropped in back-to-back threes early in the first quarter, finishing 3-9 from beyond the arc, and with 17 points in total. The fourth-year demonstrated her ability to score in all kinds of ways, including pull-ups, spot-ups, and using her speed to beat defenders.
Thanks in part to the press, the Gees took a 44-37 lead into halftime. The game was tight, but the U of O was winning the turnover battle, and also getting to the line more frequently. But things in Badger-land took a turn for the worse in the third quarter.
The Gee-Gees defence stifled opportunity after opportunity for the tired Brock squad, as they limped their way to just two points in the quarter, on 1-15 shooting, including five misses from beyond the arc. The Gees would be able to coast to victory with the newfound insurance cushion.
The Gees also used contributions from North Dakota (NCAA-D1) transfer Allie McCarthy on both ends of the floor. Although none of her six threes fell, the 6’0” guard/forward was hustling and making plays all over the court. McCarthy finished with 12 points, three steals, six rebounds, and a block.
Joly was more than pleased with holding Brock to just 56 points by the end of the night when asked to talk about the effort displayed on both ends of the floor. “I just got some goosebumps,” the third-year head coach admitted. “I love what you just said, the effort on both ends of the floor.”
“And today, honestly, we had so many adjustments to make, and we proved that we’re able to play against a 3-2 zone, we’re able to play against a triangle-and-two, and everything else. I think where we’re at now shows where we can be after Christmas, and it’s very promising.”
