By: Sarah Maat

SCARBOROUGH, ON –  The Centennial Colts defeated the Seneca Sting 73-70 to capture their second win of the season on Wednesday.

 Aliana Dominguez came off the bench, continuing her hot start to 2024, leading the Colts charge with 17 points. After averaging 6.2 ppg in her first six games, the rookie has been on fire almost tripling her scoring to 15 ppg, while averaging 37.7% from behind the arc. Tara Dowrich also added to the Colt effort with 14 points and seven rebounds. 

 It was a tight game as both teams struggled with turnovers and foul trouble.

 Talking to Domingues after the game, she shared her mindset: "I've got to stay in it, I have to be here for my team. If I'm out of it that's when we all go down. If one is out, then we all go down."

 The third quarter found the Colts in a hole as Seneca went up nine points over the Colts. Centennial, however, fought back hard, following up with 11 consecutive points to wrestle back the lead.

 In their pregame talk, Coach Naomi Mullings warned of these tough moments, telling her players to take on the mindset of a duck.

 "As coach Mullings said, embodying the duck mindset means keeping our heads up when faced with challenges, allowing everything to roll off. We need to brush off every mistake, knowing there's always another opportunity to make a play," Dominguez shared.

 In the fourth quarter, intense defence by both sides led to 3 scoreless minutes as the teams remained tied 57-57. Finally, Dowrich scored a layup with 5:23 left in the game to end the drought. Marian Martin followed up with a strong drive to the cup to extend the Colts' lead. Their lead would not last long as the teams continued trading baskets until the final minutes of play.

 Up by one with less than 20 seconds left, the Colts called a timeout to recentre their play.

 "It was about just refocusing them and resettling them, getting them in the mindset of we can do this, and sort of willing them to win a little bit," Coach Mullings said of their timeout conversation.

 "Let's make good decisions. We don't need to panic; we don't need to rush. We have each other's backs," she reminded them.

 Her strategy worked, and two made free-throws later, the Colts would capture their second win of the season in a 73-70 victory.

 Next up, the Centennial Colts will challenge the Durham Lords at home on Saturday.