By: Mackenzie Dalgleish
Box Score
Burnaby, BC - The Simon Fraser University Clan women's basketball team came through with the 70-50 victory over the Western Oregon Wolves giving them their third straight win and seventh in their last eight.
SFU was able to get out to a 7-2 lead thanks to Erin Chambers (Mission, BC) and Rebecca Langmead (Torbay, NL) who scored all seven of the team's first points.
Western Oregon would cut it to a three point game moments later, but once again Kia Van Laare (New Westminster, BC) came off the bench to spark the Clan offence by nailing the wide open three to make the score 12-6 Clan.
Langmead then went to work down low as she finished the half with 16 points and seven rebounds as she was no match for the Wolves.
"We worked hard all week in practice," said Langmead as the Clan close out their final week at home this season. "For us it was all about coming out and having some fun in our last home games on this court."
The Torbay native would complete the three point play as she was fouled on her shot extending the Clan's lead to 30-14. Then just before the end of the first half, Van Laare would make her second three-pointer to give SFU a 21 point advantage going into the break.
SFU held the Wolves to just 21.7 percent shooting from the floor as they allowed just 14 points against in the opening 20 minutes.
"We were good defensively in the first half, our help (defence) was good," said Head Coach Bruce Langford. "I thought we were very good in the first half."
Coming out of the half, the Clan cooled off a bit, but kept pace with the Wolves as they finished with the twenty point victory. Once again the Clan did not allow a three point shot to be made against on the night.
Langmead would finish with a career high 24 points to go along with 12 rebounds to give her another double-double. Chambers was not far behind as she finished with 23 points, four assists and four rebounds.
Chambers has been as automatic as possible night in and night out for SFU, but lately the Clan have been receiving scoring from multiple players the past few weeks.
"The other points are coming from different people every night," explained Langford. "Some nights it's Katie Lowen, some nights it's Kia. One night it's Chelsea Reist, one night it's Meg Wilson. So that's good, but we'd like everybody to show up on the same day and score 100 sometime."
Van Laare joined Langmead and Chambers in double figures as she scored 11 points. Reist had an solid eight point, six rebound game, while Wilson added seven rebounds and Marie-Line Petit (Bergeronnes, QC) contributed six assists.
The Clan won the battle on the boards 44-36 and also made 83.3 percent of their free throws.
Saturday will mark the final home game of the season where the four seniors, Langmead, Petit, Reist and Van Laare, will be honoured before the game. Also, it marks the Pink Game+ fundraiser, raising funds for children's cancer research. All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the cause.
"Senior's night is always an emotional game," said Langford. "Saint Martin's is always a good team. The combination of the game in terms of standings, who we play, the cancer fundraiser, as well as senior's night makes for a pretty special night."
Tip-off will be at 7:00 p.m. in the West Gym. Admission is free for SFU students.
