Women’s Basketball Top Conestoga in Home Opener

Windsor, ON – The St. Clair College Women's Basketball started their OCAA West Division regular season with a 73-68 homecourt win over Conestoga College (Kitchener) Friday night at the SportsPlex.

The Saints took a 22-16 lead after the opening frame and were able to grow their advantage to 41-34 by halftime.  St. Clair used an 11-1 run to open the second half taking their largest lead of the game at 52-35.  However, Conestoga responded with a 13-2 run of their own but still entered the final quarter trailing 62-53.  The Saints put themselves ahead 72-57 with under five minutes to play and even though Conestoga finished the contest with an 11-1 run it did not change the outcome.

St. Clair did not win many statistical categories but forced 27 Conestoga turnovers which created 16 additional shot attempts.  The visitors outshot the Saints from the floor (44% to 37%) as well as outrebounded them 35-32 in the game, but a few extra 3-point makes and a distinct difference in free throw shooting (61% to 44%) and bench points (20-12) allowed the home crown to enjoy a slim victory. 

3^rd year transfer guard Kaelyn Batten (LaSalle, ON/St. Thomas of Villanova) led all scorers with a game high 24 points and added 8 assists for St. Clair.  Rookie forward Fiona Lukassen (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) netted 11 points for the Saints while Janae Smith (Warren, MI) had the best all-around game with a double-double that included 10 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 steals.

The St. Clair Women travel to Macomb CC (Warren, MI) on Oct. 25^th for an exhibition matchup before continuing their West Division regular season at defending OCAA Champion and National Silver Medalists Lambton College (Sarnia) on Oct. 30^th.