Humber’s women’s basketball team defeated the St. Clair Saints in a convincing 85-39 win on Feb. 6.
The 46-point deficit for the Saints is its largest point margin in a loss this season.
Humber split the series with St. Clair after losing the first matchup 79-77 in Windsor on Nov.29.
This game for the No. 3-ranked Hawks was originally planned to be played on Feb.1, but was rescheduled because of more than 60 centimetres of snow that blanketed Ontario.
The wait was well worth it for Humber, extending its win streak to eight games, only one win behind the No. 1-ranked Mohawk Mountaineers.
St. Clair drops to 8-6 on the season, remaining in fourth in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Western Conference.
This was the last home game of the season for Humber, ending the season with a 7-1 record in the Hawks Nest, its only loss to Mohawk on Nov. 19.
The Hawks were physical and dominant right from the start, forcing five turnovers in the first quarter.
Third-year forward Eremwon Destiny and second-year guard Persia Martin-Brown combined for 12 of Humber’s 18 first-quarter points, with each scoring six respectively.
St. Clair struggled to find points, but first-year guard Mya Tate was able to find something for the Saints, scoring six of their eight points.
In the second quarter, it was more of the same for both teams.
Humber refused to let its foot off the gas defensively and dominated rebounding on both ends of the court, while St. Clair’s offence went through Tate again, who added another five to her tally.
The Saints turned the ball over another seven times in the second quarter.
Destiny also scored five points in the quarter, bringing her total to eleven in the first half.
The Hawks went into halftime convincingly up 33-17 over the Saints.
Humber’s game plan did not change after the break as it forced another eight turnovers, bringing the game’s total to 20.
Martin-Brown continued her good game, with another five points in only four minutes played, while fourth-year guard Marley Bonnick also scored five of her own,
The Hawks scored a game-high 28 points in the third quarter, to St. Clair’s 12, extending its lead to 34 points with a score of 61-27 heading into the fourth.
In the first three quarters, the Saints’ struggles offensively were seen through their field goal percentage, with the team shooting under 30 per cent and making four shots or fewer in each.
St. Clair was still unable to make more than four shots in the fourth quarter, but was able to eclipse 30 per cent shooting.
Humber finished the game by resting its starters, giving minutes to the less experienced players, scoring 24 points in the quarter to the Saints’ 10.
Hawks head coach Ceejay Nofuente said the team's success begins defensively and transitions to the offence.
“Everything always starts on defence. Just how we get stops, forced turnovers, securing defensive rebounds. And then that just translates to our offence,” she said.
Nofuente said the win streak is impressive, but certain aspects still need improvement.
“I think, you know, we're on a great run right now. We kind of found our rhythm, and I think the biggest thing right now is just continuing to build on our defence,” she said. “I think defence continues to win games.”
Martin-Brown, who finished with a career-high 17 points and added 9 rebounds and 2 assists, to go with 5 steals, said the whole team played collectively.
“I think for this game we definitely shared the ball, our defence was A1, we were definitely in the gap, we were in the help, we were helping each other, and overall, we were just moving the ball around,” she said.
Saints head coach Andy Kiss said the team will talk about what got away from them and work on moving forward.
“You gotta move forward. I can't be overly negative with the kids this time of year,” he said. “We got punched in the face, we fought for a while, and then the game got away from us in the second half.”
Kiss said it was aggressive between both teams to start, but they did not counter the aggressiveness from Humber.
“It was a bit of a bar fight early with how the game was being not being called, I suppose, but it's not the ref's fault, you gotta adjust and start playing physical defence yourself,” he said. “But our kids did fight. There were some bright spots.”
The Hawks now look to finish the regular season strong with an away game against the Sheridan Bruins in Brampton on Feb.11.
St. Clair hopes to win its remaining games in a double header against the Conestoga Condors and Redeemers Royals on Feb.13 and Feb.14.
