KINGSTON, Ont. –  The Guelph Gryphons women's basketball team has developed a reputation as a team that defends with intensity. But stops were hard to come by in Kingston Friday night. Guelph ran into a hot-shooting Queen's Gaels team that made several runs and handed the Gryphons an 80-49 loss at the Athletics and Recreation Centre.
 
Point guard Skyla Minaker led the Gryphons with 13 points, while Burke Bechard added 10.
 
Guelph had fits trying to figure out how to slow down Marianne Alaire, who entered the night averaging an OUA-best 24 points per game. The fifth-year guard had a game-high 22 for Queen's and was on fire from beyond the arc, hitting 5 of 10 attempts and countered the Gryphons on a few occasions when they tried to mount a run.
 

The Gaels made 10 of 26 three-pointers in total.
 
The Gryphons initially seemed to regroup after a 16-point deficit at the half and began the second on a 4-0 run. That included an impressive defensive sequence in which they caused a Queen's shot-clock violation. But the Gaels continued their torrid shooting, especially from long range and pushed the margin to 25 late in the third quarter thanks to a Myrian Fontaine three-pointer from the left wing.
 
Guelph started well and capped an 8-0 run with a nice Minaker jumper that had the visitors up 10-3. But it was all Gaels for the remainder of the half. Queen's outscored the Gryphons 28-4 from that point to get the lead up to 17, as Guelph struggled to produce any consistent offence.
 
The Gryphons did string together a few baskets down the stretch of the first half with Bechard scoring back-to-back field goals and Natalie Vigna chipping in a layup. But Alarie nailed her third three-pointer of the opening 20 minutes with 1:02 left in the second to push it back to 16. Queen's would enter the half up by that same amount at 40-24.
 
Guelph shot just 29.7 per cent from the field, making 22 of 74 shots, as well as 1 of 12 from long range.

 
Turning Point
Guelph went approximately five minutes without a point from late in the first quarter and into the second. The Gaels began to pour it on offensively and the Gryphons were unable to get the lead under double digits the rest of the game.


Gryphon Take
"We let them shoot the ball pretty well. There wasn't one aspect of the game where we could point to and get something positive. They outrebounded us, they got to the free-throw line. They had us on our heels. It's not the kind of game I was very happy about. We just need to get this boat turned around." – head coach Mark Walton


The Record
Guelph is 3-2.

 
Next up
@ York, Saturday, Nov 10, 6 pm