After a couple games on the road, the Wolves women's basketball team was back at home on Saturday November 15th to take on the Georgian Grizzlies. Algonquin was hungry to get back in the win column after their streak of 50 straight OCAA East regular season wins was snapped the Saturday prior in Belleville. As for Georgian, they came to Ottawa on a 2 game winning streak, picking up victories against St. Lawrence and Durham.
This one would prove to be one of the most exciting regular season women's basketball games the ARC has seen. It was a tightly contested 1st half, with the Grizzlies entering the locker room with a 20-17 lead. The Wolves struggled offensively in the half shooting just 24% from the field and 0-9 from 3 point range.
Georgian grabbed all momentum coming out of the locker room with their best quarter of the game shooting 50% from the field and 3-5 from deep to open up a 41-30 lead going into the final frame. With the Wolves in unfamiliar territory trailing by double digits at home and struggling to find their offence, things seemed to be pointing towards a Grizzlies win, but the Wolves weren't done yet.
Rookie Ayslin Stevenson opened up the 4th quarter by knocking down a jumper from just above the right elbow. Cianah Miller would follow that up with a right hand finish in the paint to cut the lead down to 7. The Grizzlies were able to answer back with a 6-0 run of their own to increase their lead to 13 with 6:50 to go. On the ensuing Wolves possession Taryn Mitchell began to impose her will, slicing through the Georgian zone to finish at the rim. A few seconds later Ciannah Miller came up with a steal and went coast to coast for the basket and the foul to complete the 3 point play and cut the lead back down to 8. Miller would continue to have the hot hand, knocking down a 3 from the left wing on the next possession to cut the lead to 5. Georgian would answer back once again with Sydney Shawer knocking down a 3 from the top of the arc to settle her team down. Hats off to Sawyer who had an outstanding game finishing with a game high 22 points. The Wolves remained aggressive and Taryn Mitchell came up with a put back and 1 on the ensuing possession to cut the lead back down to 6. After Georgian went 1-2 from the line, Mitchell scored once again getting to the rim to reduce the deficit to 5. Cianah Miller would follow that up with a pull up jumper from the top of the key to make it a 1 possession game. Both teams would trade baskets on the next 2 possessions with Georgian coming up with an offensive rebound put back and Ciannah Miller dumping it off to Abby Couture for the finish inside. After a stop on the defensive end, Algonquin was inbounding under the Grizzlies basket. Taryn Mitchell came off a screen, pumped faked to get her defender in the air and calmly knocked down a deep 2 point jump shot to cut it to 1. She would then come up with a steal and force Georgian to commit a clear path foul to send her to the line where she would go 1-2 to tie the game. After a few back and forth possessions without a basket, Cianah Miller came up with a steal and pushed it in transition to Leah Hirst who knocked down a huge 3 from the right corner to give the Wolves a 3 point leadwith just 55 seconds to go in the 4th. This was the Wolves 1st lead since there was 37 seconds to go in the 1st quarter. The Wolves defense would stand tall and Abby Couture would add an insurance basket to help secure a 58-53 come from behind win.
After struggling throughout the 1st 3 quarters the Wolves shot an impressive 63.2% from the field and 50% from 3 in the 4th. They also stepped up on the defensive side of the ball holding Georgian to just 23.5%. Cianah Miller and Taryn Mitchell were big parts of the comeback. Miller scored 10 of her 12 points and recorded 3 of her 6 assists in the 4th quarter. Mitchell scored 9 of her team high 17 points in the final frame and also had 3 of her 4 assists.
The Wolves improved to 2-1 on the season. They will hit the road this weekend to take on the George Brown Huskies on Saturday November 22nd at 6:00 pm, followed by a date with the Centennial Colts on Sunday November 23rd at 1:00 pm in the GTA before finishing the 1st semester back at home on Friday November 28th at 6:00 pm against the Seneca Sting.
