Lady Lancers are in the basketball playoffs

By Sarah O. Swenson

Sierra Cauley of the Loyalist Lancers defends the ball against Shivon Witter of the Centennial Colts during the women's basketball game at the Loyalist College gym on Friday Feb. 17, 2012. The Lancers won 63-57. Photo by Marta Iwanek.

The Lady Lancers are in the basketball playoffs, but the men are out after their respective win and loss against the Centennial Colts on Friday.

The women got by with a 63-57 victory and the men succumbed in a 90-76 defeat. These results bring the women’s record to nine wins and six losses, while the men stand at seven wins and 12 losses.

Despite it being what he called a “scrappy” game, coach Chris Eligh was pleased with the effort put out by the Lady Lancers.

“They’re a tough team to play,” said Eligh. “But we knew what to do.”

The ladies controlled the game from the start, never once surrendering the lead. Dianne Bouder and Sierra Cauly led the way in scoring with 18 and 14 points respectively. Haley Sisler was also a solid contributor, logging 40 minutes of game time, scoring 12 points and collecting six defensive rebounds.

Having secured a spot in the playoffs, the women now stand fourth in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association East Region and will have one more regular season game to tune up.

“We’ve got one more game to get ready, to execute some of the things we’ve been working on — some court awareness … recognizing the play on the floor and working within our system,” said Eligh.

And in an equally scrappy game, the men did not make the most of their chances and are now out of playoff contention, ranking ninth in the OCAA East Region.

“We just ran out of gas,” said coach Richard Whitfield. “The guys played well, but playing that physical for that long and not having 10 guys that can go in and do that, it’s hard.”

The Lancers fell behind early in the game, but after a first-quarter time-out seemed to get back on the right track. They charged back, the lead changing hands four times, and kept it a close game until a fourth-quarter collapse.

Robert Hanson and Patrick Kalala led the team in scoring with 18 and 17 points respectively, while Damone Donaldson shot with 100 per cent accuracy, earning 13 points. But the most telling stat might be the points on turnovers: Centennial capitalized on Loyalist’s mistakes, snagging 21 points off the turnovers, while the Lancers managed just five.

However, Whitfield has been pleased with the progress he’s seen of late.

“The biggest thing is that we’re getting tough for longer in the games. We’re not having as many breakdowns, so we still seem to be growing from it.”

Despite the rough season, the men are looking to end the year on a high, in a game against the St. Lawrence Vikings.

“We’ve beaten them once already,” said Whitfield. “St. Lawrence is definitely not as big as these guys.”

The ladies will also be traveling to Kingston to face St. Lawrence Vikings on Wednesday, Feb. 22 for their final game of the regular season.