Despite losing three starters to graduation, the defending provincial champion York Lions women’s basketball team remains a force to be reckoned with in Ontario University Athletics.
The Lions enter the holiday break in first place in the OUA East at 7-2 after splitting a pair of games this past weekend in Waterloo. York was very close to nailing down a perfect weekend, but lost 64-62 to the surging Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks at the buzzer. A night earlier, the Lions prevailed 77-71 over the Waterloo Warriors with Emily Van Hoof leading the way with 17 points.
Unfortunately, the Lions men’s basketball team hasn’t enjoyed nearly the same amount of success as its female counterpart. The Lions fell to 1-7 on the season with losses at Waterloo and Laurier over the weekend. The bright spot for York was the play of star guard Tut Ruach (right), who scored a combined 53 points in the two games.
In women’s hockey, the Lions played their first games without leading scorer Mandy Cole (broken ankle) and delivered respectable performances. However, the Lions could not stop their winless streak from extending to seven games as they lost, 3-1, to Laurier and tied Waterloo, 3-3.
Also on the ice, the men’s hockey team improved to .500 (7-7-3) at the holiday break with a 7-3 road win over the Waterloo Warriors on Sunday. Rob Labute scored his first two goals of the season to lead the Lions to victory.
Perhaps the best individual performance of the week was recorded by women’s volleyball player Chelsea Thomas (right). The Port Colborne native had 12 block solos in a 3-1 win (25-18, 26-24, 25-27, 25-22) over the Brock Badgers Wednesday night in St. Catharines. However, the Lions could not gain ground on OUA East-leading Toronto as they dropped a three-set match against the Varsity Blues on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Lions men’s volleyball team extended the Varsity Blues to five sets, but also dropped a 3-2 decision.
Most of the Lions teams start their holiday break this week. The final interuniversity event on campus this year is the Christmas Open track and field competition on Dec. 15.
Story submitted to YFile by Mike Koreen, sport & recreation information officer in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health.