Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

The Nipissing Lakers fought off a fourth quarter push from the Laurentian Voyageurs to take a 77-71 victory on home court on Friday night. With key offensive rebounds and willingness to play through contact and fouls, they came out victorious to tie Laurentian’s record.

Emilie Lafond opened the scoring for the Voyageurs with Dominique Bouchard scoring 10 in the first for the Lakers. With four of the first five baskets coming inside the paint setting the tone for the rest of the game, offensive rebounding was key to remain on top, something the Nipissing Lakers took advantage of.

En route to 46 first half points, the Lakers won the offensive rebounding battle 8-4 and denied possessions from the Voyageurs.

In the second half, Laurentian was able to cut back on a 11-point lead the Lakers had at halftime, but with the fight Nipissing provided on the glass, they pushed the lead back out to 11, 61-50 going into the fourth quarter.

Megan Axiak is one of the Voyageurs best three-point shooters, and in the fourth she made a pair of big threes as Laurentian pushed back on the Lakers. Getting it as close as four points, Laurentian found key defensive stops and transition opportunities to get to the line and climb back into the game.

With their shooting finding rhythm from outside the paint, and their defence closing down on the aggression of the Lakers, it looked like Laurentian was going to complete the comeback but time fell short as the whistle blew.

Both Nipissing and Laurentian are now 2-7 with a rematch coming December 2nd at Laurentian.

Full box score here.