GUELPH, Ont. - From start to finish the Guelph Gryphons were able to cause problems for their opponent on both ends of the floor Saturday afternoon at the GGAC. Hosting the Waterloo Warriors on "Shoot For the Cure" day, the Gryphons used contributions from their entire team to take down the Warriors 77-49.

After jumping out to an early lead over the visitors, the Gryphons were able to withstand a  Waterloo push, before jumping out in front and building their lead the rest of the game. Once Waterloo had taken a 10-7 lead in the opening quarter, the Gryphons quickly went back out in front before taking over the contest as the game continued on. The Gryphons went on to outscore the Warriors 70-39 after Waterloo had taken their three point advantage.

Led by a 16 point performance from Sarah Holmes on offence, and a defensive performance that held the Warriors to just 31.8% shooting from the field, the Gryphons seemed to have all the answers all afternoon.

In the beginning, the Gryphons jumped out to a 7-2 lead before the Warriors began to fight back.  Despite falling behind by three, Guelph went on an 11-2 run to end the opening quarter and take a six point lead into the 2nd.

From there, the Gryphons began to pull away. Forcing turnovers on defence and converting those into points on the other end, the Gryphons were able to force the issue for the remaining 30 minutes. Holding Waterloo to just six points in the 2nd, while scoring 15 of their own, the Gryphons established a 33-18 advantage going into the half.

With a chance to start putting the game away early in the second-half, the home side did exactly that. Close to the midway point of the 3rd-quarter, the Gryphons went on a 17-2 run to deflate any Waterloo comeback ideas, while also sending them into the final quarter holding a 59-29 lead. 

Getting their lead as high as 32 points in the 4th, the Gryphons were able to pace through the final 10 minutes and wrap up their 5th victory of the season.

Along with Holmes, the Gryphons had three other scorers hit double-digits in the game. Skyla Minaker piled up 15 points to go with 8 rebounds for Guelph. Modupe Okeowo poured in 11 points and Ashley Wheeler finished the game with 10.

"Defensively I thought we really did a great job especially in the first-half, holding a university team to 18 points," said Gryphon's head coach Mark Walton. "In the third quarter we really came out and were able to pull away. The girls showed me that they were not happy with just putting up 33 points and that they wanted to push it more. That's a great characteristic that we need to be able to show and I was glad we were able to do that."

With just two games remaining in the 2019 portion of their regular season schedule, the Gryphons will now head to Windsor for a date with the Lancers on Wednesday before returning home to host the Western Mustangs on November 30.

"We're making progress and moving in the right direction and that's all I can ask for," said Walton.