By: McKenzie Dalgleish
Box Score Burnaby, BC - The Simon Fraser University Clan women's basketball team (6-1 – 1-0) came from behind in the second half to win against the Western Washington Vikings Saturday night, 62-58.
It was a high energy affair between the border rivals, as both teams came to play.SFU started with a 6-2 lead following a nice drive by senior guard
Marie-Line Petit (Bergeronnes, QC) who was able to convert on the reverse lay.
The Vikings would take their first lead of the game, 9-8, with 12:27 left in the half and worked to extend it to 13-8 three minutes later.
However, Petit again would make a nice drive weaving her way through the crowd for the lay-up to cut the deficit to three points.
Petit would finish with 10 points, 6 rebounds and three steals on the night."We didn't play the best of games, but I think we did a good job of taking it to them and stepping up when we needed to," said Petit.
Trailing 15-10, fellow senior Kia Van Laire (New Westminter) would bank in a three-pointer to make the score 15-13, helping to spark the Clan.Following two free throws by the Clan, junior
Katie Lowen (Lethbridge, AB) would make a midrange jumper to cut the score 23-22, Western Washington.
With seconds left, freshman
Ellen Kett (Niddrie, AUS) was able to drive to the hoop and lay it in as time expired making the score 30-28 for the visitors at the half.
Western Washington would begin to pull away early on in the second half as they held a 46-35 lead six minutes into the half.
Just as the Vikings pushed their lead to more than ten, the Clan began to stage their late comeback starting with a nice bounce pass from Kett to Lowen, who was able to kiss it in off of the backboard.
Lowen ended the game with 12 points and four steals, while also having 10 deflections on defence.Lowen would then go coast-to-coast brining the score to 49-45 with 6:44 remaining in the game.
"I thought they worked way harder then we did early, but once we started getting aggressive we had more success," said Head Coach
Bruce Langford.
"We had a timeout with six or seven minutes left where I said we just have to win some boards here or else we weren't going to have a chance at all.
"Western Washington guard Kaite Colard would then make a three, but junior
Erin Chambers (Mission, BC) would answer back with a nice layup to make it a four point game, 52-48.
Then, sophomore
Meg Wilson (London, ON) would complete a three-point play as she laid in the ball plus the free throw with 4:13 left in the game.
Wilson had a very strong second half finishing with four points and four rebounds which helped preserve the win.
Chambers would then complete a three-point play of her own with a layup and foul cutting the Vikings lead to just one, 56-55 with 2:43 remaining.
Petit would bring the Clan all the way back making a free throw to tie the game, before Kett would spot the senior from Quebec down the floor for the layup and 58-56 lead.
Chambers sealed it by scoring the final four points of the game to give the Clan the four point victory. Chambers finished with a game high 27 points, including 13 free throws.
"The conference is so tough, we're undefeated since last year and it is definitely important to keep it that way for the whole season," finished Petit.
SFU would outscore the Vikings 38-32 in the paint, while also doubling WWU 16-8 in points off of turnovers.Marcel Pounds and Tia Briggs would lead the Vikings in scoring with 16 and 12 points respectively.
The Clan will be back in action against West Texas A&M on December 19 at 5:00pm in Seattle, WA for a neutral site game. SFU will be back in British Columbia December 30 against Trinity Western in Langley at 6:00pm.
