Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Bishop's Gaiters women's basketball team split a pair of U SPORTS games this past weekend in Montreal when they competed in the McGill Tournament.  They lost 71-65 to Ryerson on Friday and rolled past UBC-Okanagan 80-39 on Saturday. Here is the view from beyond the bench with Coach Eddie Pomykala:

McGill Tournament
Friday, October 12
Game 1: vs Ryerson Rams 71 BU 65
Box Score 

What a great opportunity for us to play Ryerson- coached ably by former gaiter Carly Clarke. Ryerson is built for playing in the Nationals which they are hosting this year. They have size, length, quickness and depth. They have a player who was on a NCAA D1 Scholarship last year coming off the bench!!!

Well you couldn't have had a finer 20 minutes than the one we had. Our Defense was superb- pure dynamite!!! We pressured the ball, we denied the wings, we took away High Post entries and we scored...... and they didn't. First quarter we came out flying and took an 18-7 lead!! We kept battling in the 2nd quarter and won that one 15-12! Hey, holding a Ryerson machine that scored 83 points the week before against Dalhousie to 19 at Half is quality stuff! It felt good being up 33-19 and in command. But we need more depth, we got tired and our decision making faltered. Third quarter we improved our offense but so did they and they chipped away at us- 23-19. So we're up 52-42, our little sensation point guard Amaiquen Siciliano (Buenos Aires, Argentina) is making bomb after bomb- she is demonstrating such skill and we are hanging on to her greatness but we need more and our vets are fatigued and we can't deliver. We get pounded on the boards and got scored on easily inside (no we don't have the zone in yet!) and they whip us in the 4th 29-13 so we lose the match 71-65. Hey, when you meet our players on the street- don't say hello- say: BOX OUT!
 
Ama was WONDERFUL with 27 points 2 assists going 4/7 from 3-point- she is sensational to watch and only 18 years old! Ashley Milhomme (Repentigny, Que./Cegep de Montmorency) scored 12 points and had five steals but we need her going to the basket more. Maude Archambault (St-Augustine-de-Desmaures, Que./Cegep de Montmorency) was coming off a career high 29 points vs Millersville where she went 7/11 from 3 point land. She received special attention as a result, rushed things, went 1/9 from three to score 9 pts- she'll learn from that because she's a mature leader.
Our energizer is Metcheline Gabélus - Metch just doesn't quit: 5 pts 9 rebs 2 assists and 1 steal- you should have seen her go to the offensive boards- she got 6 of them! BUT we could only get 29 minutes out of our bench, our starters played 86% of the game. Jayne Dumerjean gave us 14 minutes of quickness and spark scoring 4 points and getting 2 steals. Post Eve Marie Houle converted both shots for 4 points in 11 minutes. Yes, our bench is a work in progress. At this point, we will take this loss and grow as a team. Next game. Next possession!

Saturday, Oct. 13
Game 2: UBC-Okanagan 39 BU 80
Box Score

When you play a weaker opponent, you must take care of business. Complacency and sloppiness can occur and were careful to avoid this. We challenged our team to play GREAT NO FOUL DEFENSE and to attack their 1-3-1 zone with poise. The ladies did just that! We took a 17-8 lead after the 1st quarter, built halftime lead to 43-15 and then settled into a great rhythm giving each of our ladies playing time- this time our bench played 73 minutes out of 200, what a bonus for us!

We had six players score between 11-15 points- that is terrific balance. Captain Maude Archambault (St-Augustine-de-Desmaures, Que./Cegep de Montmorency) led the charge with 15 points 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Defensive specialist Metchline Gabélus felt super comfortable on the offensive end scoring 13 points grabbing 6 rebounds, passing for 4 assists and having 3 steals. Marie Berrouette (Montreal, Que./Dawson College) got going herself going with a nice 12-point 7-rebound game in 20 minutes. Ama Siciliano was once again superb scoring 12 points and securing three steals. Ashley Milhomme (Repentigny, Que./Cegep de Montmorency) played with a veteran's poise, shooting 3-8 form the 3 to end up with 11 points. Our point of pride off the bench was Post Eve Marie Houle who in 14 minutes of game time went 5/7 from the floor scoring her BU career high of 11 points. Eve Marie improves each day and this will help us so much.

So we finished 1-1 losing to the eventual tournament Champion, Ryerson who beat McGill 80-79. We have some regrets over that loss, we did have a 22 point lead at one point- we played so hard, we did everything right for 30 minutes.... and then we ran out of gas. This team has a great capacity for getting better. We like each other, we have chemistry and we look forward to 3 great tests October 19-21 in Toronto at Ryerson's tournament. Box Out!!!

Next Up
The Gaiters travel to Toronto this weekend to play a trio of games starting with York on Friday, Oct. 19 at 2 p.m. The Gaiters complete schedule is available here.