Fashioning a small lead through the first half while their offence sputtered, the Marauders found their scoring touch, and a comfortable advantage, in the second half Wednesday.

McMaster outscored Brock 21-11 in the third and rolled to its 16th victory of the season at Burridge Gym, downing the Badgers 74-57.

With Wednesday's win, the U SPORTS no. 4-ranked Marauders improved to 16-3 in OUA play, and maintained their one-game lead atop the OUA West division.

Mere days after breaking her single game career high in points, second-year guard Sarah Gates led the Marauders once again in the win with 23. She went seven of 19 from the field and added seven rebounds.

Veterans Linnaea Harper and Hilary Hanaka also eclipsed double digits with 16 and 12 points respectively.

Exploiting their opponents on the boards throughout Wednesday's contest, Mac ended the night with a whopping tally of 63 rebounds as a group versus Brock's 36.

Both teams struggled to find their range from the floor in the opening half, with the host Marauders shooting just 17 per cent (seven of 41) as a group while the Badgers shot 33 per cent.

McMaster was buoyed, however, by its efforts on the boards through that same period, as Mac out-rebounded Brock 35-21 and had many more looks on offence as a result. Hitting the same number of shots from the field, Mac enjoyed 20 more attempts, and ultimately held a 27-23 lead as the teams entered the locker room for the halftime break.

Gates was Mac's leading scorer in the half, pouring in 11 points and hitting two of six attempts from long range in the process.

Her pace picked up in the third, as the Marauders came alive offensively as a group and Gates provided 10 of her team's 21 points in the quarter. Shooting 50 per cent (eight of 16) in the frame, McMaster held Brock to just 22 per cent on the other end of the floor and built a 14-point lead in the process.

Raising their level in an effort to fight back into contention, the Badgers saw their percentage from the floor rise to 53 per cent in the fourth, but the Marauders continued to score with impunity.

With Gates heading to the bench for much of the final quarter, it was Hanaka who grabbed the reins offensively, making five of eight shots from the floor to lead all players in the quarter with 10 points, as Mac coasted to the finish line.

NEXT UP: The Marauders continue their home stand Saturday, February 2, when they welcome the Western Mustangs to Burridge Gym for a 1:00 p.m. matinee. That game will be webcast live on OUA.tv.