SHERBROOKE, Que. - The Bishop's Gaiters women's basketball team hits the road for the second weekend in a row, as they head to Ottawa for the Metro Glebe Invitational.
The Gaiters will open tournament play on Friday at Carleton, play the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Saturday and the UNBC Timberwolves on Sunday afternoon. Both Friday and Saturday are set for 8 p.m. starts, while the Gaiters-UNBC clash is set for a noon tip.
The Gaiters (4-1) are coming off a second-place finish at the Lawton's Centennial Women's Basketball Tournament in Halifax last week. The Gaiters fell 64-59 to Saint Mary's, who went on to sweep the tournament, before defeating the Brock Badgers 82-52 and scoring a 74-59 win over the host Dalhousie Tigers.
Over the weekend,
Maude Archambault (Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Que./Collège Montmorency) led the Gaiters with an average of 20 points over the three games. So far on the year, she is averaging 20.4 points per game.
Ashley Milhomme (Repentigny, Que./Collège Montmorency) averaged 18 points per game over the weekend and grabbed 12 rebounds in total.
Edith Noblecilla (Guayaquil, Ecuador/Santo Domingo de Guzmain), for her part, averaged 8.7 points and 4.7 assists per game.
This will be the Gaiters' first trip to the Metro Glebe tournament in four years. In 2013, they lost all three games they played. Bishop's had better luck in 2008, when they went a perfect 3-0 to win the tournament.
The Carleton Ravens, the Gaiters' opponent on Friday, is 2-2 so far this season. They went 2-1 at the Thompson Rivers tournament in Kamloops next weekend, posting wins over the host Wolf Pack as well as Fraser Valley, after falling to Alberta. Last year, they went 33-5 overall (18-1 OUA) and won bronze at the Women's Final 8 in Victoria. The Gaiters hosted the Ravens last year, with Carleton scoring a 68-52 win at the Mitchell Gym.
The Gaiters' Saturday opponent, Ottawa, is 3-0 on the year, after sweeping the UQAM tournament three weeks ago. Last year, they went 19-13 overall (13-6 OUA) but were knocked out in the first round of the OUA playoffs. This will be the fifth meeting between the teams this decade, with the Gee-Gees coming out on top in all four prior matchups.
While the Gaiters' first two opponents are familiar, Sunday's foe, the UNBC Timberwolves, are certainly not. This will be the first-ever matchup between the Gaiters and Timberwolves, who joined Canada West in 2012. This year, UNBC has gone 3-3 in non-conference play. Last season, they were 7-22 overall (6-14 CW) and were swept out of the Canada West playoffs in two games by UBC.
The Gaiters open conference play on Saturday, Nov. 4, as they host the UQAM Citadins at the Mitchell Gym. Tip off is set for 6 p.m.
