Box Score The McMaster women's basketball team played host to the Guelph Gryphons as they opened up their 2017-18 OUA regular season at home. Despite some rocky play at times, the Marauders were able to muster up a 70-61 victory over the Gryphons inside Burridge Gym on Wednesday night.
 
Typical of early season play, both teams showed some rust with shooting percentages low and foul counts high. The game would conclude with a total of 41 fouls being committed by the two teams, making for some ugly basketball.
 
Guelph found itself trailing and struggling to find any offense in the opening half of play, only shooting 22% from the field. The Gryphons improved their shooting only slightly in the second half, ending with a 29.6% from the floor.
 
Meanwhile for the Marauders, they would maintain a steady offence, as things would settle down a bit following the first half.
 
Led by all-star Hilary Hanaka, who finished the day with a team-leading 15 points, the Marauders made use of quick transitional play as the Gryphons attempted to apply pressure in the early-goings of the game.  McMaster built the lead by doubling up on the Gryphons in steals, finishing the game with a total of 14, and rebounded in the defensive zone far better than Guelph with 32 compared to the Gryphons' 19.
 
An OUA All-Rookie last year, Olivia Wilson also would put up strong offensive numbers, as she would tally 14 points of her own, while teammate Linnaea Harper finished the night with 13 points and eight rebounds.
 
Scoring leaders for the Gryphons were Sarah Holmes and Skyla Minaker, who both would score 11 points.
 
The Marauders will be back in action on November 3rd when they head to Kingston to take on the Queen's Golden Gaels.
 
All McMaster Marauders basketball games can be streamed live on OUA.tv.
 
By Ethan Ready