ST. CATHARINES, Ont. –  The Guelph Gryphons women's basketball team faces an interesting problem this season – they won't surprise anyone. After a breakthrough playoff-berth last year, the young Gryphons have continued their ascent in the OUA. Guelph went on the road and beat the Brock Badgers 70-63 Saturday night in the Bob Davis Gym to improve to 2-0 on the young season.

Sarah Holmes led the team with 17 points, including 3 three-pointers, all of them coming in the first quarter. Second-year guard Burke Bechard stuffed the stat sheet again, scoring 16 points, with a game-high 14 boards, in addition to registering 3 assists and 4 steals.

Head coach Mark Walton has drilled good habits into the team and Guelph had to dig deep in its second game of the season, unlike the 30-point blowout they enjoyed midweek in a 70-40 home-opener defeat of Western. The Gryphons showed they can be mentally strong win in a variety of ways, including a tight one in the fourth quarter.
Guelph executed extremely well down the stretch, which was a necessity because of Brock's gritty play. Miranda Smith nailed a three-pointer for the Badgers to get it within three at 58-55 but Ivana Vujadinovic (10 points) hit a couple free throws with 2:57 left. When Bechard grabbed a huge rebound in the paint and finished with a layup, Guelph was back up 62-55.

Brock, however, wasn't done. The hosts answered again as Melissa Tatti (game-high 24 points) buried one from beyond the arc with 1:13 on the clock to make it 64-63 Guelph. That's when the Gryphons finished with surgical precision, as Julia Kokonis, Holmes, and Bechard combined to go 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final 29 second to close it out.

The Gryphons had some good moments in the first half and ended the first quarter with a 19-4 run that put them up 25-14. They built from there and led by as many as 15 but Brock found some more consistent offence and went on its own 13-4 run in the final 3:45 of the first half to trail 35-31 at the break.

Guelph was strong on the boards and outrebounded the hosts 29-14 in the first half, though a sloppy 16 turnovers enabled the Badgers to hang around. The Gryphons finished the night with 51 boards compared to 34 for Brock. Guelph also hit 17 of 21 from the free-throw line, including the six straight late in the game.
 
Turning Point
The Gryphons took this game with a combination of defence and ultimately, success at the line down the stretch. Brock did well to get within a point on a couple of occasions but the six made free throws from Kokonis, Holmes, and Bechard iced it. And the trio looked calm doing it.
 
Gryphon Take
"That was the key to our game, the way we finished. We ran what we call our Victory offence at the end so if someone comes and fouls us, we go to the line. We practice free throws a lot. We did it when we had to do. We also made some good defensive plays at the end. Brock was forced into a situation where they had to jack a lot of shots. We executed when we needed to."

"Teams are going to try and bring their 'A' game when they come play us. That's something our players have to get used to. Until they do, there could be some growing pains. We gave up a big lead but what I liked is that when we did, we bared down and didn't let it escape."– head coach Mark Walton
 
The Record
Guelph is 2-0.
 
Next up
@ Ryerson, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 6 pm