Hawks suffer second half collapse
Jordan Furness

Unfortunately for the Golden Hawks women's basketball team, there are two halves to university basketball. Laurier's failure to show up for the first five minutes of the second half allowed the Western Mustangs to go on a 12-0 run and head home with a convincing 70-56 victory.

The game got off to a slow start as both teams had several turnovers and committed numerous fouls.

However, as the half progressed, the pace of the game picked up and both teams started to develop some good plays.

Western's dominance of the boards was one reason they came out on top in the half as Laurier seemed content to try and shoot from outside the paint.

"Western seemed to sag back a little, so we had to take advantage of that," noted Hawks head coach Sue Lindley adding, "you have to score any way you can when you're playing against a team like Western."

Kealey Smith led the early barrage of three pointers and helped keep Laurier close throughout the entire first half.

An encouraging sign came at the end of the first half after Western had gone on an 8-1 run opening up a 13 point lead.

Instead of giving up and coasting to the end of the half, Laurier turned the tables on Western and scored 8 straight points to close out thr half down at 36-31.

The momentum that the Hawks took to the dressing room seemed to stay there. At the start of the second half, the older and more experienced Mustangs pumped in 12 points and the Hawks would not be close again.

"We fell asleep in the first five minutes of the second half, and you can't do that against a team like Western," noted Lindley. The Mustangs have spent almost a decade in the CIAU's top ten ranking.

Despite the early second half onslaught, Laurier still came away with some positives as they consistently made several nice passes to get down the court which was a definite improvement from the start of the game. However, the plays tended to be wasted with missed shots and ineffective rebounding.

As for individual efforts from the Hawks, Megan Oikawa led the team with 14 points. In addition, Lindley praised the efforts of first year Hawk Kealey Smith who has risen to the challenge of heavy responsibilities in her rookie season. Smith, along with veteran Amanda Peers excelled on defense and set the pace for the Hawks.

The loss, coupled with a 55-25 defeat at the hands of the Windsor Lancers last Wednesday, drops the Hawks to 1-3 on the season. Things will not get any easier for the Hawks as they travel to Guelph today to take on the 3-0 Guelph Gryphons. The Hawks were defeated soundly by Guelph in their season opener in November.

The Hawks will have to avoid any five minute lapses in this matchup should they hope to challenge the division leading Gryphon.

Lindley believes that Guelph, McMaster, and Western will set the pace in the OUA West division, while the rest of the teams are fairly evenly matched. Thus, a win on Wednesday will go a long way towards securing a playoff spot.

The Hawks are a young team dressing nine rookies, but with the leadership of Amanda Peers and Sherry Faber and their tremendous depth on the bench, the Hawks are certain to provide entertaining basketball and the promise of playoff success in years to come.