By: Mackenzie Dalgleish
Box Score
Burnaby, BC - The Simon Fraser University Clan (4-1) were able to battle their way to another victory on Tuesday night in the West Gym, this time against the Academy of Art University Urban Knights, winning 84-69 in the first of back-to-back games between the teams.
With the halftime score tied 38-38, the Clan were able to outscore the Urban Knights 46-31 in the final 20 minutes, to help pace themselves for their fourth straight win.
"We came out okay, then we hit a dry spot and took some bad fouls and had a few turnovers in a row that gave them a fair amount of points," Head Coach Bruce Langford said after the game. "Then we re-gathered with about four-to-five minutes left in the first half and started to make some better reads and finally hit some shots."
"Despite shooting poorly, we were able to get to the line and make our free throws and that made a difference."
Jumping out to a 5-2 lead, the Clan would fall behind as the Urban Knights went on an 8-2 run to lead 13-7 early in the game. AAU would stretch their lead to eight points as the visitors led 21-13 resulting in Langford calling a timeout.
That would turn things around as SFU went on a 15-5 run to tie the game at 28, highlighted by senior guard Marie-Line Petit (Bergeronnes, QC) making a full court pass to a streaking Meg Wilson (London, ON), who finished the play with a nice layup, tying the game.
Petit would finish with 15 points and a game high six assists on the night. Meanwhile, Wilson came close to a double-double finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds.
SFU would retake the lead for the first time since the opening minutes of the game, before the Urban Knights would tie it back up at the end of the half.
In the second half however, the Clan came out firing as they went on a mini 7-2 run to stretch their lead to 45-40.
From there it was all Clan as junior Erin Cambers (Mission, BC) would make a jumper pushing the lead to 53-42 for the home team, and then freshman Ellen Kett (Niddrie, AUS) would hit a three-pointer to extend the Clan's lead to fourteen, 56-42.
Chambers would lead all scorers with 22 points, while adding seven rebounds.
Later in the final half, Petit followed up a nice reverse layup with a three-pointer putting the game away as the team coasted to the 15 point victory.
"We stayed composed and took it to them," Petit explained on getting down early and then fighting back over the final 25 minutes of the game. "We got them in foul trouble and we made a lot of free throws."
Langford liked what he saw from the senior guard saying, "Petit made a couple good plays in a row that kind of put [the game] away."
SFU finished the game 25-for-30 from the free throw line and shot 49.1 percent from the field. The Clan won the rebound battle 40-37, while also finishing with 18 assists, led by Petit who had six.
The team will be back in action tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m., in the second game against the Urban Knights, in the West Gym. Student Admission is free.
