Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

For what will be the third time in three weeks, the Guelph Gryphons and Laurier Golden Hawks meet. As the six and 11 seed matchup, the Gryphons host the Golden Hawks to break the 1-1 tie and more importantly decide who will advance to the quarterfinals of the OUA Critelli Cup playoffs.

The Gryphons finished with a 16-6 record, two games behind the Windsor Lancers who they were racing for much of the season. The Laurier Golden Hawks finished 9-13, one away from the Waterloo Warriors for the 10 seed who were just above them in the division.

One advantage and one key for each side, starting with the Gryphons. When you look at the game Guelph won against the Golden Hawks, they won the rebounding battle and that’s an advantage for them in this matchup. The positioning Julia Colavecchia plays with and the length that Lucy Tesseyman gives them is a big piece of Guelph’s play not only defensively but creating second chances. They got 10 boards combined in the win and opened up space for guards like Hannah Bourdon to get their own, and they open up the game for the Gryphons.

A key for the Gryphons aside from the interior is the ability for the guards to create turnovers. When Cassidy Hirtle drives, getting quick hands in and poking the ball for Alexis Wright to lead the fast transition game is a key for Guelph to stay ahead of the shooting Golden Hawks offence. They won the turnover battle in the game they won. In the game they lost they won turnovers despite losing on the boards. Creating those extra possessions and getting the Gryphons transition play going will continue the pace and efficiency of their offence.

For the other side, an advantage for the Golden Hawks is their shooting. In the game Laurier won, they shot a high volume of threes from Janet Enge, Cassidy Hirtle and Kathryn white, and their perimeter ball movement created a lot of chances getting the Gryphons defence shuffling. They have a lineup to get the ball moving quickly and always have someone cutting off the ball, and they have a lot of shooters they can put on the floor at the same time, spreading out the Gryphons defence and creating open shots.

A key, along the lines of managing the Gryphons advantage, is creating lanes for Cassidy and Miranda Campbell by keeping good positioning inside against Julia Colavecchia and Lucy Tesseyman. Being able to clear space for driving lanes and open up paint offence from the guards will be very important to keep the offence going and keep the Gryphons defence pushed a little further back.

They’ve met twice already, each side won a game, and the third time means the most. Wednesday night the first round kicks off with the Gryphons hosting the Golden Hawks.