The women’s basketball team split its weekend double-header, making its record 3-4.
The Thunder lost to the undefeated St. Lawrence Vikings on Nov. 19 by a score of 78-66. Algonquin’s Katie Flansbury led the game with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The Thunder led by one point at the half, but the Vikings hit three consecutive three pointers at the end of the third quarter and carried that momentum through the fourth to hold on to the win. Algonquin only got five points from the bench, compared to the 31 bench points the Vikings had.
The previous night was a different story as the Thunder put in a dominant performance against the Loyalist Lancers, winning 66-38. Amoney Abakar put up 22 points for Algonquin.
The Thunder scored 36 points from within the paint, more than doubling the Lancers who only had 16. Algonquin was also able to take advantage of turnovers while keeping the point total allowed off of their own giveaways low.
The Thunder had a disappointing loss against the Georgian Grizzlies 57-56 at home on Nov. 12.
The game came down to the wire. With the score tied at 56 and only 4.9 seconds remaining in the game, the Thunder committed a foul that sent a Grizzly player to the free-throw line for two shots. She scored one of them, putting Georgian up by a point. Algonquin couldn’t get a shot away in the time remaining to retake the lead.
The Thunder looked to have a hold on the game after the first half, leading 31-19 but were unable to carry that momentum into the second half. Georgian outscored the Thunder 22-10 in the third quarter.
“I think for us it’s just important to come out in the second half with the same energy and spunk that we had in the first quarter,” said Lauren Carey, Thunder assistant coach. “We were really excited to play at home. That showed in our play in the first and second quarter. It’s important to come out of halftime with energy and we were just missing that today.”
It was distance shooting that won the game for Georgian. The Grizzlies went 56 per cent from behind the three-point line in the second half while Algonquin couldn’t get theirs to drop.
“We did win the rebounding battle and it’s always a big factor, but we have to give Georgian credit,” said Carey. “They came out and hit some big shots today. When things like that happen, there’s not much you can do.”
Grizzly player Keshia Jacques had a perfect 100 per cent shooting percentage from beyond the arc, with 12 points from the three-point line. She hit all four shots in the second half. Lauren Tebrake scored Algonquin’s only three of the game.
Abakar led the Thunder with 23 points, 10 rebounds and two assists and Tebrake added another 11 points and 13 rebounds.
“We’re a championship program and we’ve invested in and established a culture,” said Carey. “We have a very young team this year and they’re still picking up on that.”
Algonquin’s next game is on their home court on Nov. 26, when they will face the Durham Lords.