Queen’s Golden Gaels saw their five-game winning streak come to an end Friday night as they suffered a 46-44 defeat in an Ontario University Athletics women’s basketball game in Ottawa.

It was the first time this year the Gaels have failed to score at least 50 points, but it also may have been their finest defensive performance of the year. Only once in conference play this season has Queen’s allowed fewer points, and that was against a 2-9 Nipissing team that has scored almost 200 points less than have the Gee-Gees, the ninth-ranked team in Canada.

Andrea Priamo had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Gaels, who got 10 points and 10 rebounds from Jenny Wright.

Kellie Ring and Katherine Lemoine scored 12 points apiece to help the Gee-Gees improve to 10-1.

The Gaels, 9-2 and the 10th-ranked team in the country, remain atop the East division standings, a game ahead of the Ryerson Rams, who won 78-63 at Laurentian Friday night.

The Gee-Gees took an early 11-4 lead and they led by as many as 14 points in the first quarter before the Gaels found their bearings. A 13-5 run in the middle of the second quarter, fuelled by six points apiece from Emily Hazlett and Wright, brought Queen’s to within two points of the lead at 26-24 just before halftime.

That momentum carried into the second half, as the Gaels took the lead and stretched it to six points in the third quarter, 36-30, and after Ottawa closed the gap they later scored seven straight points to take a 43-37 lead with four and a half minutes left in the game.

From that point, however, Queen’s failed to score another field goal, missing their last six shots—four of them from three-point range. The Gee-Gees, meanwhile, ended the game on a 9-1 run, taking the lead with a Julia Dostaler jump shot with 80 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Kingston’s Sarah Besselink came off the bench to play 20 minutes for the Gee-Gees. She scored four points and grabbed three rebounds.

Both teams shot dreadfully, with Ottawa successful on less than 29 per cent of its shots, while Queen’s managed to score on less than 27 per cent of its attempts. The Gaels committed 17 turnovers, but outrebounded the host team 50-38,including 34-13 under the defensive glass.

The Gaels resume play Saturday night against the Ravens, 7-4, at Carleton.