TORONTO - Assistant coach Shae Dheensaw kept the TMU women's basketball team humming on Saturday afternoon, as the Bold handed the previously undefeated Brock Badgers their first loss of the year 71-48. The win moves the Bold to 4-0 on the young season, and gives them sole possession of first in OUA's central division.
The Bold found early success on the defensive end in forcing Brock shots from the perimeter. The Bold were aggressive early, generating turnovers with both a full-court press and active zone defence. On the offensive end, the Bold got lots of open looks with quick ball movement. Shots struggled to fall for the Bold despite their open looks in a low-scoring opening quarter. Hailey Franco-DeRyck led the Bold in first quarter scoring, as the Bold trailed 12-9 after the opening ten minutes.
"I think we're very athletic," said Dheensaw on the Bold's aggressive defensive start. "I had trust that we could start out strong with our starters and that our bench would be able to add to it."
The second quarter belonged to TMU as they jumped on Brock. The Bold saw more double teams as Brock looked to limit their open looks. Unfortunately for the Badgers, the Bold started knocking down the shots they had missed in the opening frame. Defensively the Bold were relentless, forcing more turnovers through their full-court press. This shift saw the Bold quickly build an 18-12 lead just three minutes into the second quarter.
Kaillie Hall took charge offensively, finding open teammates off the dribble and converting tough takes.
A Brock timeout would slow the Bold momentum, however TMU continued to slowly build their lead. Two Franco-DeRyck blocks helped preserve the Bold lead as the game moved to halftime. In the final minute the Badgers would threaten, but fail to erase the Bold lead as TMU carried a 25-23 advantage into the break.
In the third, TMU started to pull away. The Bold increased their lead early with a balanced offensive approach. Jayme Foreman continued her impressive three point shooting, taking over the game as the Bold lead jumped to 17 just four minutes into the half.
"It just kind of felt natural. I wasn't thinking about the shots I was just taking them and they were falling," said Foreman who finished with a team-high 27 points including seven three-pointers.
The Bold forced bad shots from Brock and carved through the Badgers defence. This effort helped ice the game, after what was a close competition entering the second half became a blowout in just a couple minutes. What started as a two point lead became a 17 point lead entering the fourth.
The final quarter saw Brock looking to get back into the game. They played sound defensive basketball and forced TMU turnovers. On the offensive side the Badgers rebounded well, helping them cut into the deficit as the game entered its closing stages. The Badgers managed to cut the Bold lead to 10 but found themselves ultimately unable to overcome the Bold's monster third quarter.
"We know this is a process, I think we're building and we still haven't arrived yet," said Dheensaw.
The Bold will look to continue building on their undefeated start next Wednesday when they visit the Toronto Varsity Blues before returning to the MAC next Saturday.
