GUELPH, ON - Saturday night at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre, the Gryphons women's basketball team saw their 2016-17 season officially come to an end after suffering a 86-73 loss to the Waterloo Warriors. Both the Gryphons and Warriors finished just outside of a playoff spot in what was the regular season finale for both teams. The Gryphons finish the season with a 5-14 record while the Warriors finish the year 6-14.
"I thought our team continued to grow and get better as the season went on," said Gryphons head coach
Mark Walton after the game. "Unfortunately, tonight we got off to a slow start and were never able to recover."
The Warriors, who rank 14th in the OUA in scoring with an average of just 55.5 points per game on the season, poured in 28 points in the opening quarter and finished the night with a season-high 86 points. As a team, Waterloo shot 50.7% from the field (34-67) while knocking down 14 of their 17 trips to the free throw line.
While the Gryphons had a disappointing night on the defensive end, there were plenty of positives offensively. Four of the five Gryphon starters scored in double figures, led by Megan Brenkel with a team-high 18 points. As a team, the Gryphons also knocked down a season-high seven three pointers on the night. Fourth year guard Samantha Renshaw, who was the lone graduating player to be honoured pre-game as part of the team's "Senior Night" ceremonies, went 3-for-9 from beyond the arc and finished with 13 points. Second year guard Sarah Holmes (Welland, ON) recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Second year forward Ashley Wheeler (Stratford, ON) racked up 14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
In order to qualify for the OUA playoffs, the Gryphons needed to finish within the top 12 of the OUA's RPI rankings. When the dust settled, the Gryphons were ranked 14th in the RPI, finishing two spots outside of a playoff berth.
