By: Kaja Antic, Sports Writer
Editor’s note: included stats were retrieved on February 7, 2:00 p.m.
The first full week of January not only saw the return of classes to Burnaby Mountain, but also the return of SFU women’s basketball.
The Red Leafs hosted the Central Washington Wildcats in the West Gym on January 9, their first of two matchups against the Wildcats this season.
SFU head coach Bruce Langford sent out the usual starting line up; redshirt seniors Makenna Gardner and Arman Dulai, senior Sophia Wisotzki, junior Myrlaine Shelvey, and sophomore Rilyn Quirke — the group that has started every game of the season to date.
The Wildcats earned an early 9–0 lead in the first 2.5 minutes of play. The Red Leafs fought back against the visiting team, leading 13–12 halfway through the first quarter. The two teams continued to trade baskets back and forth, with SFU coming out on top 18–17 after the first 10 minutes.
SFU and Central Washington started the second quarter how they had ended the first — with the lead changing multiple times. It wasn’t until halfway through that the Wildcats started to pull away. The visitors scored 18 points over the next 5 minutes, with the team’s defence confining the Red Leafs to only three points in the same time frame.
“The visitors would score 18 points over the next 5 minutes, with the team’s defense confining the Red Leafs to only three points in the same time frame.”
Headed into halftime, the Wildcats led the Red Leafs 46–32, having outscored the hosts 29–14 in the second quarter alone. Aside from the basketball game, breaks in play also allowed for performances from the SFU Athletics Dance Team on the court. The dancers kept the energy high in the West Gym, performing in smaller groups and as a larger troupe, equipped with red and white pom-poms.
SFU tried to mount a comeback as the second half began, though Central Washington still held the edge with a 69–50 lead after thirty minutes of play. Even though the Red Leafs outscored their American visitors 20–13 in the fourth quarter, the home team fell 82–70 after the final buzzer went.
Despite the loss, the Red Leafs still had some decent statistics over the Wildcats. The team earned 24 points off of turnovers, compared to Central Washington’s 16. As well, SFU players off the bench earned 20 points, whereas the Wildcats’ bench only managed to score seven.
Wisotzki scored the most points for the Red Leafs, earning 27 of the team’s 70 points over the course of the game. Second in team scoring was freshman Sophie Bergeron, netting nine points after coming off the SFU bench.
Despite a strong start, SFU is struggling to keep up with their Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) opponents — having a 4–8 record in GNAC games at the time of publication. Still, Wisotzki leads GNAC scoring with over one hundred points more than the nearest opponents, even while her team is seventh out of 10 in GNAC standings. With the season ending on March 1st at Seattle Pacific, the Red Leafs look to rebound to keep their GNAC Championship hopes alive.
