The McMaster men's and women's basketball teams will open the OUA conference season on Wednesday, November 4 at home facing the Brock Badgers.   The women's game starts at 6 p.m., followed by men's action at 8 p.m.

Wednesday's lid-lifter is of extra importance as Brock is a division rival and one of the teams the Marauders will compete with for playoff positioning.

On the women's side, McMaster has started the season on fire and has won all six of its non-conference games.   Despite some players nursing injuries, the Marauders have shown great depth and are getting production from multiple sources, led by OUA All-Stars Danielle Boiago and Clare Kenney.  Veteran Rachael Holmes just scored a career-high 25 in the team's last win, an 82-48 decision over Toronto.
 

An extra subplot in the women's game is the conference debut of Marauder Andrea Polischuk, who previously played four seasons with the Badgers and will be facing her old team for the first time.  Polischuk has been very a solid veteran presence for the Marauders through six games.

The Badger women also start conference play with a perfect record of five wins and zero losses, so something has to give when the two teams collide on Wednesday.

The men's game should be just as hotly contested as the Badgers look like a team trying to move up in the standings.   Starting its non-conference schedule in August, Brock has won 11 of 14 games, with the only losses coming versus American competition.  The record includes impressive wins over touted OUA contenders Ryerson and Windsor.

The Marauders have had a solid pre-season as well, with only one loss in eight games, by three points to the McGill Redmen.   McMaster is the defending OUA Central Division pennant winners and knows that Brock will come at them very hard. Brock Men's Coach Charles Kissi is a former Marauder and McMaster alumnus and would enjoy knocking off his alma mater.

The Marauders have been leaning on their depth again so far this season, and have had a different leading scorer in almost every game.   Leon Alexander, Troy Joseph and Connor Gilmore have been consistent up-front , while Aaron Redpath, Trevon McNeil, and David McCulloch have been solid at the guard spots. 

The Badgers feature the last two OUA rookies of the year in Johneil Simpson and Dani Elgadi, and use a shorter rotation than the Marauders usually employ.  McMaster will likely try to push tempo in order to take advantage of its deeper roster.

After playing Brock, both Marauder basketball teams will be taking the long trip to Sault St. Marie for a Saturday clash with the Algoma Thunderbirds, before returning home for another important game against the Ryerson Rams on Wednesday, November 11.