Box Score The McMaster women's basketball team was facing the measuring stick in CIS competition and was able to defeat the Windsor Lancers 68-62 Wednesday night in the Burridge Gym. The win ends an eight-year drought for the Marauders, who had not beaten Windsor since winning the OUA West Division final in 2008.
It looked like the tough times would continue for the Maroon in the game's early stages, as Windsor used its size advantage to jump out to a 10-2 lead off the tip. But behind Danielle Boiago, who scored eight points, the Marauders fought back to within a point at 16-15. With time winding down, Mac's Siobhan Manning converted a tough shot and was fouled to make it a 3-point play, and McMaster took a 20-19 lead after 10 minutes.
The second quarter saw the Marauders struggle to score and Windsor took a 27-21 lead, holding Mac to a single point over the first five minutes of the quarter. Neither squad shot the ball very well as defensive basketball was the focus for both teams. McMaster closed with a late run to trim the deficit to 33-28 at halftime, but scored only eight points in the quarter.
After the intermission it was the Lancers that struggled to score and McMaster tied the game at 40-40 late in the third quarter before grabbing a 46-42 lead heading to the final 10 minutes. The Marauders held Windsor to just nine points in the quarter.
In the final stanza Windsor fought back to tie the score at 54-54 and looked to have grabbed the momentum. But then Manning made another hoop plus the harm to put her team up by three, and when Linnaea Harper drilled a trey on the next possession, McMaster was up 60-54 with three minutes left.
Credit the defending champs for not quitting after getting down though, and Windsor was able to close to within 64-61 with 20 seconds to go. But McMaster made four free-throws in the dying moments to cement the victory.
Boiago was awesome, especially when points were hard to come by and her team needed her to score, and she finished with a game-high 24 points on 12 of 21 shooting. Manning was the next highest Marauder scorer with 18, including some key buckets. Andrea Kiss scored 20 to pace the Lancers.
Windsor won the battle of the boards, outrebounding McMaster 45-37 with 6-3 Lancer post Cheyanne Roger grabbing 17 of the total. Mac's Clare Kenny corralled 10 boards, including some key rebounds when Windsor was looking to retake the lead.
The Marauders now move to 8-2 in the OUA Central and will face the Western Mustangs on Saturday, January 23 as part of Marauder Weekend. Tip-off versus Western is set for 1-pm.
