By: Teru Ikeda and Kajan Thiruthanikasalam
SCARBOROUGH, ONT. - The Centennial Colts were reeling after a difficult loss on the road against the Georgian Grizzlies on Nov. 8 and had a tall task ahead of them for Saturday night in the George Brown Huskies, who sported the OCAA East's best record at 5-1.
And although they managed to stay in it for the better part of three quarters, their ice cold third quarter proved to be too much to overcome as Centennial (0-5) remained winless with a 69-59 loss to George Brown (6-1).
LEADING SCORERS
Tianna Sullivan dominated on the inside and outside, leading all players with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Zae Sellers was no slouch either, dropping 13 points and was a pest on the defensive end with seven steals.
Judy Ta had an efficient 15 points on nine shots to lead Centennial while Michelle Beloso was the only other Colt that scored in double figures with 12. Olivia Thomson had 10 rebounds to pace Centennial.
MaryAnn Blake's presence on both ends of the floor was evident as she had a stat line of eight points, eight rebounds and three assists. Her toughness was on full display in the second quarter as she briefly left the game with a lower body injury but returned just before the first half ended.
Erika Evangelista and Cori Browne each had four assists to lead George Brown and Centennial, respectively.
GAME STATS
Centennial shot 29.4 per cent from the field as their offence could not generate any consistent semblance of rhythm. The Huskies didn't shoot much better (34.7 per cent) but made six more shots than the Colts.
The Colts also shot themselves in the foot with their careless ball handling as they committed 31 turnovers, leading to 37 George Brown points on the fastbreak. The visitors also had a 38-16 edge in points in the paint.
The home side did, however, shoot decently from behind the arc, hitting five of 14 (35.7 per cent) and outrebounded the Huskies, 61-57.
GAME PLAY-BY-PLAY
Ta started off on fire as she nailed consecutive triples to open up the Colts' scoring; the third year guard had eight in the first quarter. But despite Centennial hitting three of four from downtown, George Brown went 75 per cent from the line (6-8) and the two teams were tied up at 15 after one; Sellers' seven points and five steals paced the Huskies.
Sullivan was plagued by foul trouble in the first quarter but came alive in the second, scoring 10 points and Kiyann Grimaldo had eight second quarter points as the Huskies took a 37-29 lead heading into the half.
The third quarter was one to forget on the offensive end for Centennial as they shot 21.4 per cent from the field (3-14) and committed 11 turnovers. Evangelista was the catalyst of the Huskies' defense, committing four steals as George Brown outscored the Colts, 19-7, to take a 56-36 lead after three.
George Brown scored the first three points of the quarter to take their largest lead of the game at 23 (59-36). They still had a 66-43 lead but the home team closed out the game on a 16-3 run, led by Beloso's eight fourth quarter points, to make the final score look more respectable.
CATCH OUR NEXT GAME
The Colts head out on the road for two games on the weekend, starting with a rematch against the St. Lawrence Vikings in Kingston, Ont., on Friday Nov. 23 at 4:00 pm. The Vikings defeated Centennial in their previous matchup, 77-61, on Nov. 2.