By Noah Curitti

The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women’s basketball continued their winning streak, as they secured a win against the McMaster Marauders with a final score of 81-57 in midweek action at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) on Wednesday night. 

Fans rolled the years back as they celebrated Y2K Night at the MAC. The pregame energy was electric as the two teams warmed up to music from a live DJ who played hits from the early 2000s as a compliment to the game’s theme. 

A dominant performance from the home side ended with the Bold being victorious, extending their winning streak to five games and starting the season off with a perfect 5-0 record. The Marauders, on the other hand, continued their slow start, falling to a 1-4 record. 

The first quarter started with both teams going back and forth, struggling to score but a three-pointer from first-year guard Ella McDonald got TMU on the board. The Bold would score 10 unanswered points, capped off by a three-pointer from fourth-year forward Jessica Keripe.

The Bold would continue to play strong as third-year guard Catrina Garvey scored a pair of buckets to propel the blue and gold to a 14 point lead. It was all TMU in the first as they would lead 24-10 to end it. 

The second quarter would not be kind to the visitors.The Marauders failed to get anything going as they fell down 18 points. After a couple of minutes, McMaster would gain some momentum, scoring a bucket and getting a big foul call in their favour, which halted a promising TMU attack. 

 A loud and supportive bench inserted some energy into the Marauder defence,  making it harder for TMU to get things going on the offensive side of the ball.. 

“I think it’s easy to get complacent after a hot start and we did a good job of refocusing,” said Bold head coach Carly Clarke. 

TMU would eventually get back to business after some big three balls from third-year guard Alex Pino and Garvey, who had herself a nice first half, impacting the game with her scoring, tallying up 12 points on 50 per cent shooting.

TMU continued to pounce. A tough bucket from fourth-year guard Myriam Kone found herself chucking the ball up as she was falling to the hardwood, sending it into the net, extending TMU’s lead to 12. McMaster was not at the races in this half, trailing behind and unable to get anything past the strong Bold defence. 

McMaster made a solid comeback late with third-year wing Emily Frankovic receiving two free throw attempts, cashing in on all four buckets and cutting the TMU lead down to 8. It was looking promising for the Marauders to only be down by single digits but that would soon change. Kone hit two free throws and then stole the inbound from McMaster to shoot a buzzer beating bucket to end the half, heading into halftime 43-31. 

“[Kone] is super dynamic and impacts the game on both ends of the floor [with] her ability to steal the ball and make easy baskets. She has so much energy and it reflects on her teammates,” said Clarke.

Like the start to the first half, the second half was very slow. Both teams played great defense but a pair of buckets from Keripe and Kone would get TMU back in business. Kone forced another steal that led to a fast break to send Keripe back to the line. Both of them were in sync with each other to extend the Bold lead. 

Kone and Keripe were constantly at the free throw line. They were completely taking over the half, unstoppable. They were both setting each other up for a great game and McMaster could not find anything to defend themselves. Kone hit another three-pointer to take her game total to 22 points, putting the Bold up 20 points.

Keripe bounced back this game. After only dropping five points in the Bold’s previous matchup with the Marauders, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds tonight. 

“I came into this game with a fresh-start mentality and focused on the present moment and what I wanted to achieve,” said Keripe. 

“[Keripe] is so fun to play with, I think she is one of the best forwards in the league. We like to challenge ourselves on the court to do better every possession and I think she does everything very well,” said Kone.  

Kone was on-point this quarter, as she finished it with 26 points,as well as having a big impact on the defensive side of the floor. The Marauders were left in the dust as the Bold headed  into the final quarter of play up 69-43. 

The fourth started off well for McMaster as they were able to score quickly, trying to chip at the massive Bold lead. TMU quickly made the points they lost back after scoring in their next position and McDonald intercepted the inbound to score again. Kone also got herself a bucket as she was on the verge of a 30 point night. 

TMU showed no mercy, going up as high as 32 points in the fourth as they were running away with the game as they have now defeated McMaster in two consecutive appearances. 

The Bold now jump to 5-0 in the regular season, an ideal start. though many games remain for the Bold to prove themselves. 

“It’s a good start but it’s early in the season and I think we’re more focused on our process and I think we are happy with what that looks like,” said Clarke. 

UP NEXT: TMU will look to win their sixth straight match when they battle the Brock University Badgers on Nov. 8 at the MAC. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.