Again playing with a short-handed line-up as some injured players recuperate, the McMaster women's basketball team was able to defeat Central Division rival Brock 70-55 on Wednesday night in the Burridge Gym.

With only eight players in uniform, McMaster opened the game with a flourish and grabbed a 7-3 lead before Brock battled back to go in front 10-9.  Marauder Danielle Boiago keyed a late run and after 10 minutes, the Maroon had retaken the lead at 16-11. 

Play in the second quarter see-sawed between the two teams before a late trey from Boiago allowed the Marauders to take a 36-30 advantage into the halftime break.   Boiago was the offensive story, scoring 16 points over the first 20 minutes.

The third quarter saw McMaster push the lead into double digits as a Rachael Holmes basket put her team up 41-30.  But the Badgers kept battling and got the deficit down to 45-40, as post player Kira Cornelissen started to score inside against the Marauders.  McMaster had a response though and closed the quarter on a 10-3 run to take a 55-43 lead into the final stanza.

Needing a win to clinch a playoff spot, Brock tried to reduce the deficit but could only get as close as 59-50 after a three-point goal from Melissa Tatti.  The Marauders then scored the next six points to get the lead back up to 15 and the Badgers had no answer as time ran out.

Boiago finished with a game-high 22 points and was also the leading rebounder with 14 boards. Rachael Holmes scored 13, Hilary Hanaka had 10, and Lexie Spadafora had another big game off the bench with 10 points and 12 rebounds.  Cornelissen led the Badgers with 19.

The Marauder win leaves the playoff door slightly ajar for the Guelph Gryphons, who can catch Brock for the final playoff spot by sweeping Lakehead in their upcoming two-game weekend series.

The Marauders will close out the OUA conference schedule on Saturday, February 21^st vs. the Algoma University Thunderbirds.   It is also Senior's Day as both McMaster teams will honour their graduating players.  Game time on Saturday is at 12 p.m.