Box Score Calgary, AB — The Mount Royal University's women's basketball team hosted their cross-town rivals, The University of Calgary Dinos, at Kenyon Court on Friday night. The Cougars put up a show for CMBA youth night and shoot for the cure fundraiser, but fell to the Dinos, 56-79.
For the first period, both teams eased their way into finding their footing. Each team's veterans were the ones putting up points until the halfway mark where Lilia Skumatova and
Jenika Martens exchanged a pair of three's, which forced a Dinos timeout. The Dinos and Cougars were both aggressive on each loose ball as both teams were eager to earn possession. After checking into the game,
Nora Luca drew 2 trips to the free throw line, making three out of four shots. Towards the end of the first quarter, the game's pace began to intensify as the Dinos started to apply more pressure onto the Cougars. The Dinos accumulated 27 points while the Cougars trailed by 12 points, 27-15.
Maddy Hooper opened the second quarter by putting up a three-pointer, slowly carving out the Cougars' deficit. However, Kourtney Oss immediately responded by draining a three in the hands of a Cougars defender. Asha Donelly's first points of the night was a contested corner three, which electrified the crowd at Kenyon Court. Then Donelly made another three-pointer only 18 seconds later after her first. Luca's presence in the paint continued to pose a problem as the Dinos kept fouling Luca, earning more trips to the charity line. After a battle for a loose ball, Luca's efforts to keep it as a Cougars ball turned out successful with Martens making a layup. Upon returning from a Dinos' timeout, Hooper made another three after being left alone at the arc. This cut the game to an 11 point deficit for the Cougars, 31-42. In the second quarter, Luca and Martens were quite the duo as Luca passed a couple of dimes for Martens to cash in a handful of points for the Cougars. Before entering halftime, the Cougars were only trailing by 11 points, 44-33.
Starting the third period, Milicia Gajic and Luca exchanged a pair of three-pointers, making the score 49-36. Both teams held each other to a scoreless run for more than 2 minutes. However, the Cougars didn't find themselves on the scoresheet until
Alexis Evans made one of her free throws A steal by Christine Geraldo led to Oss scoring a layup. After being fouled on defense, Kone quickly returned to fire off a thrilling three-pointer buzzer beater, 65-40 for the Dinos.
The Dinos continued playing on the energy from the previous quarter as Geraldo collected an easy 2 points off a steal. Mya Proctor also generated four points within 30 seconds, furthering the Dinos' lead to 71-42. In the 4th quarter,
Temi Ajayi revitalized the crowd's energy after taking the ball to the rim and finishing with two points. Not long after, Donelly drained her third three-pointer.
Hayley Lalor found herself in foul trouble fairly early into this match-up, but Lalor delivered a contested three-pointer in the fourth period.
Presley Hopf earned 2 points off a steal late into the final quarter, which would draw a Dinos timeout. Donelly wrapped up the game with a floater shot at the buzzer, concluding the game to 56-79.
Tonight's players of the game are
Jenika Martens and Myriam Kone. Martens scored 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. Kone secured 16 points, 1 steal, 1 block, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.
The Cougars will return to Kenyon Court on Saturday, January 25 in a rematch against the Dinos.
