Flying high with a four-game winning streak to their name, the McMaster Marauders women's basketball team took to the road to face the Windsor Lancers at the St. Denis Centre on Wednesday night.
McMaster extended their winning streak against the Lancers with a 67-63 victory in a battle of the two top teams from the OUA's West Division. The victory slides the Marauders past the Lancers for first place.
Veteran forward Linnaea Harper finished the game with a team-leading 20 points and six rebounds for the Marauders, while guard Hilary Hanaka excelled as well, scoring 17 points.
Emily Prevost led the Lancers in scoring, with 14 points while shooting 6-11 from the field.
Windsor finally found themselves in familiar territory in January, with Wednesday being their first game of the New Year at home.
The matchup saw the no. 7 Lancers and no. 8 Marauders clash in their final game of the season series. McMaster won the first game on January 3 at Burridge Gym with a convincing 64-52 decision.
In the first half, McMaster took the early lead for majority of the opening 20 minutes of play with the Lancers close on their heels. With 1:44 remaining in the second quarter, Windsor took a 28-26 lead, their first lead since opening up the scoring with a foul shot in the first quarter.
Windsor entered halftime with a 30-27 lead and spent the first few opening minutes of the third fending off the Marauders.
Leaning on the performance of Harper for the second straight game, the Marauders eventually took a 48-45 lead by the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter brought on a series of the dramatics in the closing minutes of the game as the Marauders tried to close out the game and win their fifth straight.
In position to potentially tie the game up, the Lancers found their newfound momentum swiped away from them after being called on the line. That was followed a few short moments later with the Marauders committing a five-second violation on an inbounds play, giving the ball back to the Lancers.
Strong defensive play by the Marauders led to a tough shot attempt by Windsor as the final seconds dwindled down.
The game was put away thanks to a heads-up play by Sarah Gates on an inbounds, as she came free up court and completed a layup with three seconds left, ultimately sealing the victory for the Marauders.
NEXT UP: McMaster travels to London on Saturday, January 20 to take on the Western Mustangs. The Marauders will hope to further extend their winning streak to six games against the 8-7 Mustangs. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Marauders games can be streamed on OUA.tv.
