Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

The McMaster Marauders opened their 2023 OUA women’s basketball season against the Laurier Golden Hawks on Wednesday night and came away with a 80-75 win. Through a balanced attack on offence, the Marauders weathered a storm of turnovers and never relinquished a lead taken in the second quarter.

The Marauders and Golden Hawks both had 17 turnovers in the first half, echoing questions about execution both sides had going into the year with McMaster losing Ariane Soriano and Laurier going through stretches last year of inconsistent execution and offensive struggles.

Through that, both sides relied on their veterans to create opportunities off the ball and play a catch and shoot style. Jenna Button and Cassie Joli-Coeur both had six points in the first quarter, quickly emerging as the two biggest offensive threats, and Cassidy Hirtle exploded for 13 first quarter points shooting perfect from the field.

Laurier took a 24-20 lead going into the second quarter but it didn’t take long for back to back threes from Jenna Button to give the Marauders a 30-28 lead and never look back. From the 6:48 mark in the second quarter, through the rest of the game, the Marauders never relinquished the lead.

Nine more points from Jenna Button in the third quarter en route to 23 points and eight rebounds helped keep the Marauders in front of a surging Golden Hawks team who’s defence and transition play pushed them back to a five point deficit going into the fourth quarter.

The Marauders went into the season with a big gap to fill in paint scoring with the departure of Sarah Gates, and Cassie Joli-Coeur stepped up big to show herself as the answer to at least part of that. Cassie had another six points in the fourth for the Marauders and the way Cassie was able to use footwork around the rim to work towards good looks provided a lot of relief to the Marauders perimeter players throughout the game.

If the Marauders are going to take momentum from this going into the season, Cassie’s interior play will be key to a steady attack offensively. Game one was a great sign for how McMaster can play through Cassie during stretches of the game.