Women topple Thunderbirds 89-44, men win 89-61
After starting off the 2014-15 seasons winless on the road with a combined 0-3 record, both the Gryphons men’s and women’s basketball teams returned home to the W.F. Mitchell Athletic Centre on Nov. 15 for their respective home openers. Both teams handily defeated the Algoma Thunderbirds in front of a raucous home crowd for their first wins of the season.
The women were first to take the court, and utterly dominated their opponents, steamrolling the Thunderbirds by a score of 89-44 in a game that the Gryphons seemed to control from the very first tip-off.
Leading 19-11 after the first quarter, the Gryphons would blow things wide open in the second, propelled by the team’s trademark stingy defence and some scorching-hot three-point shooting. Back-to-back three-pointers by power forward Katelyn Yallin, who scored nine points in the quarter, extended the Gryphons’ lead to 20 points over Algoma at the 10-minute mark. The Thunderbirds only managed to score four points in the quarter, compared to 24 for the Gryphons.
Yallin was a force to be reckoned with throughout the game, scoring a game-high 22 points on an efficient 8-12 shooting, and gobbling up 12 rebounds, all while coming off the bench. The Gryphons were dominating from beyond the arc on the game, finishing 13-of-22 for a paltry 59 per cent.
Rookie guard Jessica Morris was a big part of the Gryphons three-point success, and was making it rain like it was the Amazon out there, with all 12 of her points coming from behind the three-point line.
The Gryphons continued their hot play in the second half of the game, outscoring the Thunderbirds 46-26, and holding them to just 24 per cent shooting on-route to the landslide victory. The win improved the Gryphons’ record on the season to 1-1.
The men took to the hardwood next, and their results were just as convincing, crushing Algoma by a score of 89-61 to push their record to 1-2 on the young season. The Gryphons would come out of the gate flying early, utilizing their crisp passing and some good ball movement to push the tempo of the game, jumping to a 28-9 lead in the first quarter, capped off by an impressive drive to the hoop with two minutes left to play by third-year power forward Trevor Thompson. Thompson, who finished the game with 17 points and nine rebounds, was a solid one-two punch for the Gryphons early along with second-year guard Daniel Dooley, who scored a game high 20 points to go along with three assists and four steals. Together, the pair kept the Thunderbird defenders on their toes, combining to score 20 of the Gryphons’ 28 points in the opening quarter, including an incredible step-back three-pointer by Dooley at the six-minute mark.
The Gryphons led 48-25 at the half, capped off by an exciting buzzer-beating three-pointer by guard Michael Clark, who dished out a game high six assists in the monster victory.
While the second quarter was much tighter, seeing the two teams separated by just four points, the damage was already done, and the Gryphons were on cruise control for the rest of the game, never letting the lead shrink to more than 17 points. Much to the delight of the home crowd fans, the Gryphons’ lead would grow to over 30 points at times, including at 6:15 of the third quarter, where a corner three-pointer by guard Jack Beatty gave the Gryphons a 70-40 lead.
Algoma would actually go on to outscore the Gryphons 21-18 in the fourth quarter, though the game was already long over by then. With the final buzzer, the Gryphons would take their first victory of the season 89-61.