SUDBURY – The future looks bright for the Guelph Gryphons women's basketball team. But the present appears to be pretty good, as well. The young Gryphons took a big step forward with a gritty 66-57 road win over the Laurentian Voyageurs at the Ben. F. Avery Gymnasium in Sudbury Friday night.
 
Rookie guards Skyla Minaker and Burke Bechard lead Guelph's scorers with 22 and 14 points respectively, helping the team hit the .500 mark at 4-4. Bechard also paced all Gryphons with 9 rebounds and 5 steals, while guard Megan Brenkel chipped in 10 points.
 
Guelph was without injured veterans Haley Belyk and Sarah Holmes but the whole roster stepped up, particularly the two first-year backcourt players.
 
"Sky and Burke really set the standard," said head coach Mark Walton. "Sky plays her best when the situation dictates and Burke does too. They're cast from the same dye."
 
The Gryphons were in a dogfight in the third quarter and had just relinquished the lead for the first time in the game after Laurentian's Emily Tinnes hit a three-pointer for a 39-36 Voyageurs' lead. That's when Minaker went to work. She hit two consecutive shots from long range to retake the lead at 42-39 and after Bechard made a free throw, Minaker nailed another three to push the lead to nine points. The Sarnia, ON native then hit a jumper to beat the third-quarter buzzer and when Ivana Vujadinovic made a layup five second into the fourth quarter, Guelph had just manufactured the decisive 14-0 run.
 
Laurentian battled back to get with five points a couple times in the fourth quarter but the Gryphons had an answer for each mini run. At 50-45, veteran forward Quincy Sickles-Jarvis hit a big three-pointer to stretch the lead back to eight points. And then at 55-50, Minaker drove hard and finished with her left hand to fend off the Voyageurs again. Laurentian got very close at 57-54 but Bechard made a layup with 1:44 left that gave the Gryphons some breathing room befor closing it out.
 
"We came in here knowing that Laurentian is a team that can outwork you," said Walton. "When we outworked them, that's when we made our runs. It was smart basketball.
 
"Sky made the right decisions to shoot in that third quarter. She's difficult to stop."
 
Guelph started the game red-hot and built a 15-8 lead at the 6:09 mark of the first quarter when Minaker knocked down a free throw. But the visitors cooled off and ended the quarter up 19-14 before starting off slow in the second. The Gryphons went almost five minutes without a point before Ashley Wheeler hit the team's first three-pointer of the night to make 22-16. Laurentian hung around for the rest of the quarter and trailed by two at the half, as Guelph clung to a 31-29 lead.
 
The Gryphons shot 39.4 per cent (26-for-66) from the floor but made five three-pointers and hit 11 of 13 free throws.
 
"We're not very sharp offensively," Walton said. "We're not executing well, which is frustrating. But our D is there every night."
 
The Gryphons make a stop in North Bay tomorrow to take on the Nipissing Lakers. Game time is 6 pm.