Hadeza Ismaila led the way with 19 points on Friday evening as the Algonquin Thunder women’s basketball surged past St. Lawrence with a final score of 66-47.
The Thunder came out of the gate red hot as they led St. Lawrence 23-3 after just the first quarter.
The second quarter saw much of the same as the Thunder went into the half with a whopping 44-11 lead.
“That’s probably one of the best first halves we’ve played all season. We were locked in defensively, we were communicating and we were finding the open looks on the offensive end of the floor,” said head coach Jamie McLean.
After controlling much of the game in the first half, the women had a few hiccups in the second half, letting St. Lawrence get more looks and close the lead in on the Thunder.
The Thunder managed to score only 10 points in the third quarter while St. Lawrence capitalized with 18. Even though they didn’t score as much, the women still led 54-29.
The fourth quarter saw much of the same as St. Lawrence desperately tried to put themselves back into the game.
St. Lawrence led the scoring affair in the fourth quarter with 18 points again as the Thunder only put up 12.
The women’s Thunder came away with the victory when the final buzzer rang, but coach McLean believes it was their defensive efforts that led them to the win after a sluggish second half.
“We stayed consistent with trying to do the same things. We stayed physical and we stayed on top of it. Realistically, it’s defensively what kept us in that game really.”