The Loyalist College Lancers women’s basketball team succumbed to the Algonquin Thunder team on Saturday, Jan. 28.
The Algonquin team played on Friday, when they lost to the number one ranked, St-Lawrence Vikings, with a score of 63 to 74. They were hungry for a win against the Lancers after their defeat the previous night.
Loyalist is currently sitting in seventh position in the college league standings. The women’s team has won two games out of 11. They are currently in a four-game losing streak.
The last time the two teams matched up was on Nov. 18. Algonquin College won the game with almost double the score to finish with 66 to 38.
“It’s my first year playing college level. My personal goals for the year are to keep my turnovers down and keep leading in assists. Really just do the best that I can. Usually, during a game, I aim to dominate 50 per cent of the shots on net,” said Kylea Galipeau-Wilson, co-captain of the Loyalist Lancers basketball team.
The Lancers went in to the face-off confident. Galipeau-Wilson got the first two points of the game in the first minute. Within the next three minutes, Algonquin Thunder had tied the score. The game remained tied until the star player Amoney Abaker scored the first three-pointer for Algonquin. The Lancers came back quickly and scored two points before a timeout was called on the Loyalist side.
“Kylea has been playing since she was five years old. If her sister could do it, then so could she,” said Denise Galipeau cheering on her daughter, Kylea from the stands.
Galipeau-Wilson is enrolled in pre-health at Loyalist. She hopes to get into the nursing program afterwards.
“Basketball lets me blow of some steam and it’s fun. I love it, if I can do both sports and school, I will. In the long run, my career is more important,” said Galipeau-Wilson.
After the time-out, No. 13, Galipeau-Wilson was injured. She suffered a cut under the eye from an elbow in the face. She went to seek medical help while the team played on. Her short absence from the game caused Loyalist to slowly slip in the points. The Lancers finished the first quarter trailing by eight points. With a score of 9-17.
After some terrifyingly encouraging words from their coach, James McCourt, who has been coaching the women’s basketball team for five years now, the Lancers went back on to the court ready to tackle the Thunder.
Both teams fought hard to make turnovers and get points in. However, the Algonquin team was more successful in this quarter and drew a huge lead against the Lancers. A bloody nose on the Thunder side stopped the play 30 seconds before the whistle. By the end of the second quarter, the score settled at 18 for the Lancers and 41 for Algonquin.
“We played like absolute crap in the second quarter. Our coach told us that we’re a lot better than what we’re playing and that we’re making them look better than they are, said Galipeau-Wilson.
“After halftime, we were focusing on next play mentality. Which means, if you mess up, you keep your chin up and focus on the next move. Not getting down and keeping positive,” said Galipeau-Wilson.
“The women’s basketball team are rushing too many of their shots. They’re losing focus on defending,” said Jamal Okunbor, a member of the Lancers men’s basketball team.
The Lancers never came back from their point difference after the second quarter. They fought hard against the strong Thunder team. Their focus after half time, was to box out to make the Algonquin defense work harder.
The Loyalist Lancers ended up losing, 41 points to 79 points.
“We’re a building team right now. We lost a lot of our players this year because of injuries and personal issues. We are trying to work on being a team. We are less focused on losing or winning and more on our character who we want to become as a team,” said Galipeau-Wilson.
The next game the Lancer Ladies faced was against the No. 1 ranked team, the St-Lawrence Vikings, on Wednesday, Feb. 1. Unfortunately, they lost.