Algoma swept by Redeemer

They received a scare from the Algoma University women's team, but the Redeemer University College Royals varsity basketball teams managed a sweep of Algoma in Ontario Colleges Athletic Association play on Saturday afternoon.

The Algoma University women's team gave Redeemer a scare as they battled for their first win of the season and would have pulled it off, if not for some costly turnovers at key times in the game.

At half time, the Algoma women found themselves down by two points with Redeemer holding a 33-31 edge.

In the second half, the teams traded leads down the stretch but Algoma, which had chances to put the game away, couldn't finish and it cost them as Redeemer capitalized on their chances and walked away with a 69-65 victory.

For Algoma, Roberta Reid led the way with 16 points in just over 29 minutes of action. Melissa Stumpo chipped in with nine points as did Jessica King and Sarah Miller.

Redeemer was led by Jenn Ranter, who picked up 15 points in the win. Emily Sadlier netted 13, while Amy Bosgrat had 11.

Algoma coach Dave Bourgeault was pleased with the game, although he would like to see his team box out better, which is something he preached to them during the game. He also didn't like how many times his team sent Redeemer to the foul line in the game.

"We had so many opportunities. We worked on (boxing out) all week in practice," Bourgeault said. "Effort wise, I had some girls step up big time with (Jessica King, and Roberta out.

"It was nice to get the lead with (King and Reid) on the bench. Our effort was decent. We could have won that game by 15 points if we would have boxed out. We put them on the line with a lot of stupid fouls too."

Bourgeault went on to say that little mistakes cost teams games but the effort his team put out was something that he felt good about, although he credited Redeemer's experience and speed as the difference in the game.

"Any game comes down to a little mistake here and a little mistake there," said Bourgeault. "That's the best overall team effort we've had this year. It comes down to experience. They're probably quicker than us too."

In the men's game, a 17-point performance from Paul Best wasn't enough as Redeemer knocked off Algoma 77-51. Jacob Tomas chipped in with 16 points in the loss.

For Redeemer, Eric Bulthius led the way with 17 of his own, while Victor Finora added 15 and Matt Bergman and Kevin Renkema added 10 points each.

Algoma coach Enzo Torcaso felt that his team's problem was that they played strong early in the game but couldn't carry that momentum throughout.

"We played well the first seven minutes," Torcaso said of his team's efforts. "Then they tightened up. We played a 40 minute game in the first seven minutes."

Torcaso added that inexperience on his team was evident at times as a few of his players haven't played a whole lot in recent seasons and are not used to the OCAA, with experience they are an improving ball club.

The Algoma men will now prepare for their final game of the regular season on Friday night at Fanshawe while the women have two road games remaining against Fanshawe on Friday night and Mohawk on Saturday morning.