Women
The Guelph Gryphons women’s basketball team hosted the Ryerson Rams and the Toronto Varsity Blues on Nov. 22 and 23. The Gryphons handily beat the Rams 76-53 on Friday and lost a nail-biter to the Varsity Blues on Saturday, 76-73. The women now sport a 3-5 record this season.
Third year forward, Katherina MacTavish, led all Gryphons scorers with 18 points and six rebounds, followed closely by Erica McFadden, who put up 16 points and three assists in the win.
This win can be attributed to solid, timely shooting by Guelph, but more importantly, to the success of the women on defense where they held the visiting Rams to just 18-61 (29.5 per cent) in field goal attempts and 1-6 (16.7 per cent) from beyond the three point line.
Though the first quarter featured evenly matched play from both sides, the Gryphons went into the second up five and never looked back from that point on.
Guelph capitalized on size matchups, particularly using the 6’0” MacTavish and 5’11” Julia Tennent, which earned them the edge down low and solidified the 23 point victory over the 2-5 Rams.
The Saturday, Nov. 23 game versus the Varsity Blues was drastically different than the night before, with two evenly matched teams going head-to-head at the W.F. Mitchell Centre.
Again, the Tennant and MacTavish matchups down low were a key factor in Guelph staying in contention with the then 0-6 Varsity Blues. Dana Van Balkon and MacTavish both put up 20 points and Guelph shot well from the floor, going 27-58 through four quarters.
Unfortunately, Van Balkon fouling out with 3:55 left to play in the fourth quarter forced Guelph to ramp up their play, which originally resulted in shrinking the Varsity Blues lead. However, with time running down, the Gryphons were forced to foul the Varsity Blues, who sunk 17 free throws in the night to sink Guelph late.
Men
The 2-6 Gryphons hosted the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) #6 ranked Ryerson Rams (7-1) on Nov. 22 in what ended up being a comfortable win for the successful Rams program, 81-68.
Guelph’s Jack Beatty led the Gryphons with 13 points and five rebounds on the night, but ultimately, the Gryphons were outplayed by the likes of the game’s leading scorer, Jahmal Jones, who amassed 35 points for the Rams.
Though Guelph got out to an early lead, a poor shooting performance saw the Gryphons shoot just 38.7 per cent from inside the three-point line.
A silver lining from the weekend’s first game was Guelph being able to outscore the Rams in the second and third quarters by scores of 15-14 and 23-20.
In the game on Saturday, Nov. 23, Guelph handled the Varsity Blues quite efficiently in a 78-53 win that saw Guelph outscore Toronto 50-29 in the final 20 minutes to solidify the win.
Guelph’s Zachary Angus led all scorers with 24 points, and Beatty chipped in with another 13 points and eight rebounds.
Though Guelph still only shot 39.7 per cent field goals on the game, their defense held Toronto to just 28.6 per cent shooting – a major factor in the win versus the Varsity Blues.
The men’s and women’s teams will travel to McMaster on Wednesday, Nov. 27 to take on the Marauders, starting at 6 p.m., before returning home on Saturday, Nov. 30 for a game versus Laurier, beginning at 1 p.m.