Szczokin, McCarthy nab four steals apiece as Gee-Gees win low-scoring battle
Listen, my intention was not to go to Montpetit Hall on Friday night to write yet another story about Gee-Gees point guard Natsuki Szczokin. But of course, the story writes itself, and this year, Szczokin is authoring most of the chapters in the novel that is the Gee-Gees season.
The fifth-year point guard picked up four more steals against Queen’s — incredibly, lowering her season average — and forced Gaels’ rookie point guard Brooke Hussey into a season-high six turnovers. Szczokin poured in 16 points and added six rebounds and four assists, once again putting her name all over the scoresheet.
At points, it wasn’t looking like the Gees would continue their dominance at home and defend their unbeaten Montpetit Hall record, but with the Gees trailing by a point and just over two minutes to play in the game, that changed.
Gees centre Emily Payne would grab an offensive board and find Szczokin open on the left break, where the point guard would make no mistake, draining her second triple of the evening. Szczokin would extend the lead shortly after with a spinning and-one layup, and that was the game.
Heading into the fourth quarter, Gees head coach Rose-Anne Joly sent a clear message to the team: pick up the pace. The Gees responded, guard Allie McCarthy in particular. McCarthy drained two threes and a layup to begin the quarter on an 8-0 personal run, forcing the Gaels into an early timeout.
“I feel like we responded right away with a nice run,” said Joly about the furious start to the fourth quarter. “I’m not exactly sure why we looked tired out there, I’ll have to revise a few things, but we saw a few glimpses of who we are, now we just have to make sure it’s for 40 minutes.”
Strong defence, more to be desired on offence
Joly’s Gee-Gees limited the Gaels to 53 points on the night, their second-lowest total of the season. Szczokin and McCarthy finished with four steals apiece, while sophomore forward Victoria Brideau moved into a tie for second place on the Gee-Gees single game block leaderboard with seven rejections.
“I’m super happy with our defence,” said Joly, who said that the offence was where her focus was after the game. Making it tough for the Gees was the defence on the other side, as the Gaels entered the game with the best defence in the OUA, limiting opponents to under 50 points per game.
“This year, we’re finally in a place where we’re experienced enough to be able to execute in transition because we’re very fast and athletic but also execute in a [half-court setting] … tonight it didn’t show, but we have another shot in two weeks, so we’ll see.”
The Gee’s bench turned in a strong performance, led by eight points on four-of-five shooting from forward Enora Touloute. Forward Sophie-Anne Bouffard recorded two blocks herself; while guard Ivany Rheault-Langué picked up four points on two-of-two shooting, including a ridiculous spinning layup.
The women are back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. where they take on the bottom-of-the-conference Ontario Tech Ridgebacks and look to make it a perfect 10-0 on the season at Montpetit Hall as they celebrate senior night.
