For the fourth year in a row, the St. Lawrence Vikings came away with a fourth-place finish, after they were beaten 78-45 by the Algonquin Thunder in Saturday’s bronze-medal game at the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association women’s basketball championship tournament in Toronto.
“We simply just did not have enough energy tonight,” Vikings coach Remy Simpson said after the game. “It was going to be a grind against Algonquin, down two key players (Blythe Gutelius and Hanna Koposhynska), and the majority of our girls not at 100 per cent.
“We had girls throwing up all night, and before both games today. They battled through it and really gave it all.”
A three-point basket by Lacey Knox at the end of the first quarter gave St. Lawrence a 12-11 lead, but back-to-back three-point baskets to start the second quarter an 11-0 run later gave Algonquin a 39-26 lead by halftime. The Thunder scored 21 third-quarter points to put the game out of reach.
St. Lawrence scored just seven points in the fourth quarter.
The Vikings, who entered the tournament as the No. 3-ranked team in Canada, were out-rebounded 56-38, including 38-14 under the Algonquin glass, and shot less than 24 per cent from the field.
Knox, who ended her intercollegiate career as the all-time scoring leader at St. Lawrence, scored 20 points in her final game and collected nine rebounds.
Felicia Mazerolle led Algonquin with 35 points and 18 rebounds.
The Vikings reached the bronze-medal contest with a 63-56 win earlier Saturday against St. Clair. St. Lawrence led virtually throughout the game—28-22 at halftime, and by as much as 11 points—and the Vikings withstood a 25-point St. Clair fourth quarter to claim the victory.
Jackie Rodgerson, 5-for-7 from three-point range, led St. Lawrence with 19 points, while Sammy Gourdier scored 13. Shannon Kennedy scored 20 points for St. Clair.