WEEKEND RECAP: Gee-Gees women’s basketball downs Mac and York to open season

The Gee-Gees women's basketball team got off to a 2-0 start to the OUA regular season with wins over McMaster and York on Friday and Saturday nights at Montpetit Hall.

On Friday, it was a rivalry renewed as Ottawa met the McMaster Marauders for the first time since 2019. The two perennial OUA powerhouses battled tooth and nail with each other with the Gee-Gees ultimately emerging victorious 68-66 on a Natsuki Szczokin basket with three seconds remaining.

Though evenly matched throughout the first half of action, the Gee-Gees exploded to outscore McMaster 31-17 in the third quarter, opening a lead as wide as 17 points with 1:44 remaining in the third frame. The visitors from Hamilton stormed back in the fourth, holding Ottawa to just four points and bringing the game to a tie with just over two minutes remaining.

With 19 seconds remaining, Marauder star Sarah Gates missed two free-throws that would have given her team the lead and a Savannah Provo rebound and timeout later, the Gee-Gees were advancing the ball with a chance to win.

For the Ottawa's final offensive play, Szczokin drove left from the top of the three-point line, to the basket, and finished a contested layup to give the Gee-Gees the win.

Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu led all scorers with 20 points to go along with 10 rebounds, and two assists and steals. Szczokin and Oksana Gouchie-Provencher rounded out Ottawa players in double-figures with 12 points apiece.

"We're really happy with the win," said Gee-Gees head coach Rose-Anne Joly. "Mac is a tough team. We really wanted to set the tone, everyone in the country knows the kind of team McMaster is, so coming away with the win is great."

On Saturday night, despite a challenge in the first half, the Gee-Gees defeated York by a more comfortable margin 74-55.

Without the services of Gouchie-Provencher and Alana Renon, Ottawa had to lean more heavily on rotation players, who rose to the challenge in the win.

Overall, Ottawa made a point to capitalize on York's mistakes, turning 21 turnovers into 25 points.

Lefebvre-Okankwu once again did it on both ends of the floor for the Gee-Gees, scoring 24 points, while adding nine rebounds, and four steals. Szczokin and Nadine Katumbayi added 13 and 10 points each respectively in the win.

Up next, the Gee-Gees will take to the road to Northern Ontario for matchups with Laurentian in Sudbury on Friday and Nipissing in North Bay on Saturday. Both games tip off at 6 p.m. and will be streaming live on OUA.tv.