Recap The Court

Photo: Stephen Leithwood | Brock University Athletics

Jacob Smith

Brock Women’s Basketball got a win over the McMaster Marauders in their Paint the Meridian Red, Meridian Centre game on Saturday night. Going up against a sharpshooting, high scoring offence in McMaster, Brock had to get the upper hand in efficiency, and there were none more efficient than Tito Akinnusi.

Tito finished with 37 points on 15 of 26 shooting, and the way she got her points was what some would describe as surgical. There are two aspects of her game that make her stand out, and both were on full display on Saturday.

Tito has proved that she knows as well as any post player in the league, where to be on the floor to best benefit the offence, in relation to where the ball is. As you watch the ball get moved around the perimeter, it’s rare you’ll see Tito not engaged and constantly adjusting to make herself available to the ball.

On drives to the rim she has a knack to space herself for dump-off passes. On post-ups she always finds the spot on the floor that will allow her to get to the rim the most efficiently. Tito knows how to insert herself into the flow of the offence on every play and her precise and calculated movement makes her a very efficient outlet for the Badgers.

When she isn’t making herself available offensively, Tito plays with a level of assertiveness and will to put her body on the line, that you explain when you’re talking about the type of player you want on your side. Tito is the type of player that you have to be aware of whenever there’s a loose ball because it will only be a second and Tito will be diving at the ball or running from the rim to the perimeter to secure an offensive board for her squad.

Tito’s hustle and assertiveness goes hand in hand with her calculated actions on the floor. She knows what battles she can win and she knows how she can win them, and more often than not this season she’ll come out on the winning side.

Tito leads the OUA in points per game at 21.2, she’s third in rebounds at 10.2 and fourth in field goal percentage at 55.3. Her emergence as one of the league’s best has been meteoric and for the Badgers, greatly needed. Going into the season, Brock’s depth inside the paint was something unproven, and the rise of Tito has added another aspect to the Badgers offence that has allowed it to get to another level.

The combination of Madalyn Weinert and Tito should be making a strong argument for the best 1-2 punch in the OUA in terms of what they’ve done for this Badgers team together, and the consistency of Tito allows this young Badgers squad to continue to find their consistent shooters, while maintaining dependable scoring and rebounding.