By Jasmine Makar
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women’s basketball team won 70-38 against the Algoma Thunderbirds in their home opener game at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) on Saturday afternoon.
The team came into the game with three wins in the season already, one of which was against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday night. Algoma came into the game on the heels of a 42-66 loss against the Lakehead Thunderwolves.
Dominating the Thunderbirds—a team the Bold have beaten by 20 or more points in every matchup since 2017—from start to finish meant beginning the season with four-straight wins, a sample of last year’s 10-game win streak to open the season.
“No disrespect to our opponents but we’re playing a weaker schedule to start, so [it’s] good to take care of business and then things will ramp up from here,” said head coach Carly Clarke.
TMU hit the ground running with a strong first quarter, led by second-year forward Hailey Franco-DeRyck’s offensive flurry. The Bold’s play unfolded after second-year guard Catrina Garvey attempted a three point shot from the arc which bounced from the board into the paint where Franco-DeRyck recovered it and shot it into the net, extending the Bold’s lead to 13-6.
Less than a minute later, third-year Algoma guard Riya Donnelly experienced an upper body injury but made her return to the court later in the game after sitting it out on the bench. This stopped the game and allowed the Bold to regroup and adjust tactically.
Fourth-year forward Haley Fedick built upon the break and scored three consecutive three-pointers, ending the quarter with 12 points—same as Franco-DeRyck.
The Bold had their highest-scoring in their first quarter with 26, leaving them with a significant lead before the second quarter. The points slowly trailed off as the game continued but they managed to maintain a lead throughout the entirety of the game.
Franco-DeRyck played 22 minutes on the court, tied for the most of any Bold player. The Bold used their bench much more than Algoma, who had five players play more than that.
Third-year guard Brooke Gruhn and fourth-year guard Kaila Fong led Algoma in the second quarter with five points each. Still, their efforts weren’t enough to catch up to the Bold, whose defensive efforts were sufficient to keep the Thunderbirds at margin.
“We made a lot of shots early on, but defensively we were pretty consistent all game and that part we’re really excited about. Sometimes you’ll make shots, sometimes you’ll miss but to get the stops that we did, we’re happy with that,” said Clarke.
The rest of the game was controlled by the Bold, who slowed down the pace with time management and tight defence. Clarke used this opportunity to give minutes to everyone in the bench, including first-years, to get prepared for games ahead in the calendar.
“We believe in everybody on our team to be able to contribute and try to share those minutes,” said Clarke.
First-year forward Aislin McBurney got on the court for a bulk of the game, with 19 minutes on the court, while first-year guard Magdalena Vukojev played 11 minutes.
In the last 15 seconds of the fourth quarter, the Bold stalled the game with slow passes between second-year forward Alex Pino and third-year guard/forward Zoe Idahosa, until the game eventually came to an end with nearly a 30-point score gap.
With the win, the Bold extend their record to 4-0 and continue to build their strong start to the season.
“It feels great to get a good start to the season at home,” said Franco-DeRyck. “We have a hard road ahead of us, so it’s great to set a foundation here.”
The Bold will now look ahead to a matchup against the Guelph Gryphons—who hold a 3-1 record—and attempt to maintain their undefeated record. Still, the Bold takes one game a time.
“Yeah those [previous wins in the season] are great…but every team is different and you just gotta play your game and work on your stuff and your pace. So I just look forward at what we need to work on,” said Franco-DeRyck.
UP NEXT: The Bold will play at home against the Guelph Gryphons in their fifth game of the season on Nov. 6. Tip-off is set at 6 p.m.
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