By Raphael Chahinian
The University of Victoria Vikes handed the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women’s basketball team their first loss of the Darcel Wright Memorial Classic tournament 70-62 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) on Friday.
After an east coast road trip that saw the team go 1-2, the Bold looked ready for their first game of the pre-season tournament.
TMU’s main struggle in the contest was securing defensive rebounds. The home side was out-rebounded 46-39 in the contest.
“We just had to be more physical to be honest and get ourselves in better position and rebound as a team,” said head coach Carly Clarke.
Similarly to their previous exhibition games, both teams started out with exceptional defence and full-court pressure. The first quarter saw very little scoring with a final score of 10-8 in favour of Victoria.
Neither team started out hot from beyond 10 feet, but Victoria established strong low post control early with their forwards Abigail Becker and Mimi Sigue.
The second quarter was when both teams began to find their stride and put the ball in the basket. TMU drove and kicked out to open shooters and Victoria set well-placed screens that gave them open lanes to the basket.
Although the second frame was where TMU started to find their rhythm, the team took a tough blow when their leading scorer at the time, Kaille Hall, went down with an ankle injury.
Both teams traded buckets until the first half ended with a buzzer-beating mid-range jump shot from the Vikes. At the half, the score was 31-26 in favour of Victoria.
The second half started with flaming hot shooting from both sides, as the two teams combined to miss only 11 shots in the entire quarter. After TMU found its footing early in the second, it kept the momentum going and went on to take its first lead of the game halfway through the third.
Leading the way for the Bold was second-year forward Haley Fedick who hit several crucial shots to give them the lead.
“I was frustrated from the first half and felt like I had a lot more to give,” said Fedick. “I just kept putting my foot on the gas.”
The fourth quarter began with more back-and-forth buckets until Victoria took the lead at 62-60 and never let go of it. Although they took the lead early in the quarter, it remained close until the closing minutes. After a shot clock violation, TMU gave the ball away down four points with one minute left leading to Victoria hitting a three to put the nail in the coffin.
The Bold started their tournament with a loss, but Fedick said the team has what it takes to improve and succeed as the weekend continues.
“We just talked about the little things that we wanted to fix to be better,” said Fedick.
UP NEXT: The Bold continue the Darcel Wright Memorial Classic on Saturday, Oct. 22 when they’ll face the University of Cape Breton Capers at 12 p.m. at the MAC.
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