Saints Basketball Weekend Recap January 27 2024
St. Clair College Women’s Basketball Win Big at Sheridan
The St. Clair College Women’s Basketball (10-2) team never trailed and ran away with a 71-47 victory over Sheridan College at their Davis Campus Gymnasium in Brampton Saturday afternoon on the opening leg of their GTA weekend road trip.
The Saints won their third in a row to maintain pace with OCAA West Division leading Lambton (11-2) after taking control early against Sheridan and had a 22-8 lead entering the second quarter. St. Clair increased their advantage to 41-22 by halftime and after doubling up Sheridan (16-8) in the third quarter the Saints were able to cruise down the stretch.
St. Clair were never threatened in the game scoring 25 points off 24 Sheridan turnovers and outpaced the home team 42-26 in the paint while enjoying 26 more shot attempts in the contest.
Saints star guard Kaitlyn Overeem (Brantford, ON) nearly achieved another double-double after netting a game high 22 points to go with 9 rebounds while adding five assists and three steals. Ania Buklarewicz (Mississauga, ON) did record a double-double scoring 14 points and pulling down 10 rebounds for St. Clair and Ava Willoughby (Tecumseh, ON/St. Anne) reached double figures for the first time this season with 12 points while notching 7 rebounds.
On Sunday, for the first time in fifteen years the St. Clair College Women’s Basketball (11-2) team left Humber College with a win after a 64-53 victory in Etobicoke Sunday afternoon. The Saints last defeated the Hawks (7-6) in their gym on January 31st of the 2008-09 season.
St. Clair led wire to wire in this contest posting a 17-12 lead after the first quarter and turned that into a 36-26 advantage by halftime. That ballooned to a 14-point lead midway through the third quarter in a game where shot-making was a struggle as the teams converted around 30% from the floor. The Saints were short-benched but maintained a comfortable distance from the Hawks down the stretch.
An additional 20 shot attempts were taken by St. Clair who benefited from 19 Humber turnovers which resulted in 20 easy points in quick reply. The Saints made 9 long balls and held Humber to only 4 from distance.
St. Clair’s Kaitlyn Overeem (Brantford, ON) once again led all scorers with a game high 18 points while adding 7 rebounds and a pair of assists. Reserve forward Quinn MacIsaac (Windsor, ON/FJ Brennan) came off the bench to score 13 points and grab 8 rebounds for the Saints in her best game of the season. A pair of double-double performances were turned in by St. Clair’s Janae Smith (Warren, MI) and Shae-lyn Murphy (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) who each had 10 rebounds along with 12 and 11 points respectively.
The St. Clair Women return home next weekend when they host Niagara College (Welland) on Sunday at the SportsPlex which tips at 1:00pm.
Late Push Saves St. Clair Men’s Basketball at Sheridan
The St. Clair College Men’s Basketball (11-2) team survived a tight game in Brampton Saturday evening winning 101-97 in comeback fashion over Sheridan College.
The Saints fell behind 33-23 after the opening frame and it took most of the second quarter for them to claw back to near even before halftime as Sheridan maintained a 53-50 lead by the intermission. St. Clair was sluggish out of the break as Sheridan took their advantage to as much as 17 points (70-53) midway through the third quarter. However, the Saints stormed back to within a possession entering the fourth behind 77-74. The teams traded the lead several times for most of the fourth until St. Clair seized control with just over 2 minutes to play with their largest lead at 96-90. But it took a few key rebounds and an untimely Sheridan turnover to seal the decision.
A small advantage in shooting overall from the floor (44-to-40%) allowed the Saints to stay within striking distance of Sheridan who made 10 triples in the game. But St. Clair did their damage around the basket outscoring Sheridan 56-32 in the paint. A physical game saw the teams share in committing 50 personal fouls that led to 74 free throw attempts between the squads.
The Saints had four starters reach double figures led by Chad Vincent-Simon (Scarborough, ON) who scored a game high 30 points adding 6 rebounds. Jesiah Deerr (Whitby, ON) had 20 points to go with 7 rebounds with teammate Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) recording a double-double after 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Andrew Loyuk (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) chipped in with 13 points for St. Clair.
On Sunday, the Men’s team (11-3) fell for the third time in league play this season after a 93-82 loss to Humber College in Etobicoke Sunday afternoon.
The Saints were behind 24-19 after the opening frame before the teams played a high scoring second quarter that sent them to the locker room with Humber ahead 53-48. However, in the decisive third quarter St. Clair could only muster two points in the first five minutes as Humber started to pull away. Early in the fourth quarter the Saints trailed by as much as 15 points at 77-62 and could not make much of a dent in the gap the remainder of the contest.
Statistically St. Clair was outshot from the floor (49%-to-46%) and from distance (9-to-7) but were also not able to match Humber on the boards getting outfought 47-41.
Saints’ forward Chad Vincent-Simon (Scarborough, ON) scored a game high 30 points for the second consecutive game which included 10-of-12 from the charity stripe. Jesiah Deerr (Whitby, ON) managed 17 points with teammates Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) and Jadon Tillman (Warren, MI) each reaching double figures with 12 points apiece for St. Clair.
The St. Clair Men host a pair of home games next weekend at the SportsPlex with Canadore College (North Bay) visiting Saturday before Niagara College (Welland) stops in on Sunday.