The Seawolves from Saint John were no match for the St.Thomas Tommies as they played a pair of rare home games back at the South Gym. The Tommies had no trouble finding their groove once again as the women picked up a 81-32 victory, and the men followed with a 75-37 win.
The women got the ball rolling on Wednesday as they hosted the first game of the night. Saint John got off to a quick start out of the gate and was tied with the Tommies 8-8 in the first few minutes. It looked as though it took awhile for the ladies to get used to being back in the South Gym. But once they did, the Seawolves had no chance of keeping up.
The score was 23-12 for STU after one, with a lot of early points coming off missed opportunities by Saint John. The second quarter was dominated by the Tommies and especially the long ball. With the post struggling a bit on Wednesday, the perimeter was shooting the lights out, with six three pointers in the second quarter alone. The offensive charge was led by fourth year and co-captain Renee Leblanc who had four triples in the game, and ended the night with a team high 16 points. Despite her strong performance she says success comes from everyone on the team.
“I think a big factor in our success so far is we have a really deep team. You can put anyone out there on the floor and they will be a threat to the other team. We move the ball well and everyone can score so teams can’t focus on just shutting down one or two players.”
The Tommies outscored Saint John 43-9 in the second and third quarters, with Ashley Bawn and Sam Wilson combining for 28 of the team’s points. With the game never being in reach, coach Connors once again made sure everyone got on the floor. There was nobody on the team that played less than 11 minutes, and that shows the depth the team has this season.
The win improved their record to 4-0, before heading into a huge double header against the Holland College Hurricanes this weekend.
“It feels great to start the year off so strong and that we have been playing well together, it’s just a bonus that we are 4-0. There are still a lot of games left to play, and it is still early, but we have come out with a strong start,” Bawn said.
***
Unlike the women, the men took no time at all to get the feel back of the South Gym. The first quarter was their best opening ten minutes of the season as they got off to a 17-4 start against Saint John.
With Nathan Mazurkiewicz still out with an injury, a lot of players have been getting more court time and bigger roles. Brad Hovey has been one of the players who has took full advantage of this and led the Tommies in scoring with 13 points against Saint John.
“With the few injuries we have been having it has been important that we have been going 10 or 11 guys deep so the starters don’t get too run down this early in the season,” Hovey said.
The score at half was 33-14 for STU, giving them a commanding lead heading into the break. The third quarter started much the same as the first two, as the Tommies scored a season high 36 points in the frame, including a huge game from Calvin Williams, which included 13 points and a slam dunk.
Just like coach Connors for the women’s team, coach Dickinson also got everyone involved in the game with the whole team playing huge minutes in the second half.
The win gives them some momentum heading into a massive two game series against the Holland College Hurricanes. Both teams are tied for second in the league with identical 3-1 records going in to the weekend.
“We will have to work on our defense as a team and play aggressive if we want to come away with a win or two,” second year player Joe Maxwell said.
