During last Friday’s game between the women’s basketball team and the Windsor Lancers, Windsor guard Dranadia Roc and Queen’s captain Claire Meadows battled all night long and ed for 79 of the game’s 163 total points.
“It was a shootout like I haven’t seen in my 26 years of coaching at Queen’s,” head coach Dave Wilson said of the Gaels’ 85-78 victory. “Despite covering her quite well, I think, in the second half, she dropped 42 points on us.
“Claire also quietly put together a 37-point effort for us,” he added.
Roc had a game high 42 points, and Meadows finished with 37. Her 37 points were the highest point total for a Queen’s female basketball player since 1994.
Queen’s opened their weekend at home on Friday against Windsor in Bartlett Gym.
The game was close, with the Gaels leading by only one point at halftime.
Queen’s was only four points up going into the fourth quarter but were able to hold on to defeat Windsor.
The Gaels also shot exceptionally well as a team on Friday night. They were perfect from the free throw line, sinking 26 shots on 26 attempts, and shooting 56.3 per cent from beyond the arc. Windsor was only 37.0 per cent when attempting three pointers.
“We’re a good shooting team,” Wilson said. “I think the difference in winning that game was that it was a team effort, which is hard to believe when you have Claire scoring 37.”
On Saturday, the Gaels put their two-game winning streak on the line against Western. Like Queen’s, Western only had one loss going into the game.
The Gaels played well in the first half, accumulating a 14-point lead by halftime. But Western regrouped, closing the margin to six points going into the final quarter.
“Basically we went ice cold,” Wilson said.
With less than a minute remaining, Western had closed the gap to a mere two points. Queen’s held off the late pressure and sank two free throws in the final 30 seconds to finish the game 57-53.
“We were pretty damn tired,” Wilson said. “It’s one of the problems that we face consistently when we play back-to-back games.”
Once again, Meadows led the Gaels with a game-high 22 points. The Gaels couldn’t match their shooting accuracy from the previous game, and were a dismal 11.1 per cent when taking three-point shots.
“Western is [bigger than us], so getting cleaner looks at the basket is much harder,” Wilson said. “They started four kids over six feet.”
The two wins give the Gaels sole possession of first place in the province’s east division with a 6-1 record.
The Gaels hope to continue their three-game winning streak this weekend with a game against Brock on Friday and against Guelph on Saturday.
Brock is tied for second in the OUA West.
“[Brock] is still very problematic for us,” Wilson said. “They’ve got a very nice mix of players that will make some challenges for us.”
He’s still optimistic about the team’s chances against Brock.
“For us, I think we go a little bit deeper on the bench,” he said.
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