By: Zachary Friedman
The Centennial Colts will have another crack at getting their first win of the season as they take on the Loyalist Lancers Saturday afternoon.
Centennial (0-5) lost their last matchup against George Brown 62-44. In what seemed like a very positive performance for the Colts, they just couldn't hold on as the Huskies ran away with the game in the fourth quarter.
The Colts have been battling the injury bug with key names such as Shakiya Stephens still out of the lineup. The Colts only had eight players in their rotation during the loss to George Brown.
The Colts issues this season have been on the offensive end, where as a team they've shot just 28%. It's resulted in only 47 points a game, and even with a defence that's been performing well, they're losing each game on average by 25 points.
Head coach Naomi Mullings, while not thrilled with the start to the season, has mentioned that she believes the team is trending in the right direction and that their first win is around the corner.
Loyalist (2-4) is also coming off a 73-71 loss at the hands of the Georgian Grizzlies. The Lancers have now lost three games by five points or less and are looking to bounce back.
They are led by their two forwards Grace Callahan and Daniellia Myers. Both scoring in double digits this season with Myers being one of the only players in the OCAA to be averaging a double-double with 10.2 rebounds. Callahan is also a menace on the glass, grabbing seven rebounds of her own each game.
As a team the Lancers perform similarly to the Colts, shooting around 30% from the field, averaging eight more turnovers than Centennial. Their primary difference comes from their pace of play.
Loyalist plays a quick game that sees them get a lot of possessions, so they are still able to score 61 points a game, however, their weakness lies in ball security with 28 turnovers a game, eight more than the Colts have averaged this season.
Should Centennial be able to take advantage of that, they can pull out a victory.
Centennial takes on Loyalist from the Athletic and Wellness Centre at 1pm and can be streamed on OCAA live.