TORONTO - The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women's basketball team snapped the No. 8 ranked McMaster Marauders 10-game winning streak on Saturday night, thanks to a 78-63 win at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
In what was dubbed as the U SPORTS Game of the Week between the two best teams in the OUA's Central Division, the Bold came to play and picked up a statement win — their sixth-straight victory.
"We believe that when we're playing our best, we can compete with anybody," said Bold head coach Carly Clarke.
"I think we were just excited to play them. They're a great team — really, really well coached. We saw them in November and felt we didn't play our best and felt that we've improved a lot. We're just excited to see what our improvement looks like versus a top team."
The victory moved the Bold to 13-7 on the season, while the Marauders fell to 15-5 after their first loss since Nov. 30, 2022.
TMU set the pace early, hopping out to a 19-10 lead in the game's opening-quarter.
"We came out fired up — we were just ready from jump. We brought that energy. Everybody — even those on the bench — we just wanted to win so bad," said Bold guard Tiya Misir.
However, McMaster was able to chip away as the night went along, setting up a four-point game entering the fourth. From there, the Bold were able to outscore the visitors 15-4 in the final 10 minutes of action improving their record to 13-3 since Nov. 19, 2022.
The Bold defence forced 21 McMaster turnovers and limited the Marauders to 37.3% from the floor, while the home side shot 46.9%.
McMaster guard Sarah Gates, who opened the afternoon as the leading scorer in U SPORTS, finished with 28 points but was held off the scoresheet in the fourth after missing all four of her field goal attempts in the final 10 minutes.
"I've got a lot of respect for how hard she plays and the improvement that she's shown from her first to fifth-year. We knew she was going to score — I think it was about making her work. We threw some different defenders at her. I think Lauryn Meek really stepped up for us — I think hopefully we wore her down a bit throughout the course of the game," said Clarke.
"She is so tough. So tough. (She's the U SPORTS) Player of the Year in my opinion, for sure. She scores in so many ways."
For the Bold, Tiya Misir led the Bold with 16 points while four other TMU players reached double digits.
"We got contributions from a lot of people. I think the ball moved pretty well," said Clarke. "Haley Fedick had a good game. Tiya made some tough shots. Eve (Uwayesu) is so solid with the ball, too. We have a lot of trust in her and Kaillie (Hall) as our point guards."
Up next for TMU is a home-and-home with the Brock Badgers, as the program makes their first trip to St. Catharines since last season's legendary comeback victory in the Critelli Cup.
"Another great team. Another really well coached team. We've had great rivalry with them the last couple of years," said Clarke. "It will be a tough battle and we're looking forward to that and looking forward to just trying to get better again."
The Bold begin the weekend on the road with a Friday night tip at Bob Davis Gym, before returning home on Saturday night for their final game of the regular-season. Both games are scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
