St. Clair Women’s Basketball Advance to Quarterfinals
The St. Clair College Women’s Basketball (14-3) team easily moved past Durham College (Oshawa) in the OCAA Crossover playoff game with a 75-37 victory Saturday night at the SportsPlex. The Saints advance to the quarterfinals next weekend and will host George Brown College (Toronto) on Saturday at 5:00pm with the winner qualifying for the OCAA Final Four the following weekend.
Durham was pesky in the early stages using three triple makes to outshoot St. Clair as the teams traded the lead seven times. However, the Saints managed to be up 14-13 after the opening frame and seized control in the second quarter holding the Lords to just two field goals as the home team excited the crowd with a 34-20 halftime advantage. St. Clair stifled Durham further in the third quarter and allowed only two field goals again for a comfortable 52-26 lead heading to the fourth. That gap widened down the stretch to 38 points as the Saints never let up.
St. Clair forced Durham into 26 turnovers and scored 18 points in response as they held the visitors under 23% shooting overall in the contest. The Saints also made ten 3-pointers and shot 38% overall from the floor to help themselves in the win.
Kaitlyn Overeem (Brantford, ON) scored a game high 17 points while adding 6 assists and 5 rebounds along with a pair of blocked shots for St. Clair. Janae Smith (Warren, MI) went for a double-double netting 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Saints. St. Clair’s Ania Buklarewicz (Mississauga, ON) also had 15 points to go with 4 steals while teammate Shae-lyn Murphy (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) scored 13 points in addition to snaring 6 rebounds.
St. Clair College Men’s Basketball Open Playoffs with Win over La Cité
The St. Clair College Men’s Basketball team (16-3) made quick work of La Cité (Ottawa) Saturday night and advanced to the OCAA quarterfinals with a 103-60 victory at the SportsPlex. Next Saturday the Saints will host the winner of the Centennial/Fanshawe crossover game which is being played Sunday night in Scarborough.
After eight lead changes and two ties St. Clair pulled away at the end of the first frame for a 26-18 lead headed to the second quarter. The Saints continued that momentum and eased into halftime ahead 51-33. St. Clair had their best output in the third scoring 29 points and took a resounding 80-51 advantage into the final quarter where they broke the back of the Coyotes holding them to just two field goals and nine points down the stretch.
The Saints dominated most statistical categories while shooting nearly 50% from the field including 10 triple makes. St. Clair held La Cité to just three makes from distance and under 29% shooting overall. The Saints outscored the visitors 48-22 in the paint and 36-17 in points off the bench but also won the war on the glass 52-39.
St. Clair’s Chad Vincent-Simon (Scarborough, ON) scored a game high 20 points and pulled down 6 rebounds. Jesiah Deerr (Whitby, ON) dropped in 14 points while grabbing 7 rebounds for the Saints. Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON), Darnelle Peddie (Pickering, ON) and Andrew Loyuk (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) each scored 11 points apiece for St. Clair. Tiea and Loyuk each also had 8 rebounds while Loyuk and Peddie both shared the ball tallying 8 assists respectively.