Knights rebound
Niagara Knights earn split with Redeemer in basketball; swept by Mohawk in V- ball
The Niagara Knights redeemed themselves against, appropriately enough, Redeemer to return to the win column in college women’s basketball.
Niagara rebounded from an 87- 42 road loss to Mohawk by defeating Redeemer 80- 65 at home two days later.
“Today we showed the intensity and character that we’ve come to expect from this team,” Knights head coach Mike Beccaria said. “We had an excellent bounce- back win against a solid Redeemer team.”
The victory improved Niagara to 8- 5 and into fifth place in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association West Division.
It also completed a sweep of a home- and- home series with the Royals, who fell to 4- 8 in league play. Redeemer dropped a 74- 70 decision to the Knights Nov. 15 in Ancaster.
Niagara’s defence was solid throughout the rematch.
“I think that forcing them into 34 turnovers was a very important statistic, especially because we struggled a bit early against their zone defence,” Beccaria said.
Starters Courtney Kilyk and Mary Ingribelli reached double digits in scoring for the Knights netting 22 and 11 points, respectively. Leah Bracken and Tianna Stys each contributed 10 points from the bench.
Stys was the top rebounder, with 7, and Ingribelli led all players with eight steals.
Hope Brown played only 24 minutes but nonetheless scored seven points and grabbed three rebounds.
“Hope Brown has really become the player we hoped,” Beccaria said. “She handles the ball well, guards exceptionally well and does things well that don’t always show up in the stats column.”
Niagara hosts the Conestoga Condors, 3- 10, Wednesday in a 6 p. m. tipoff at the Athletic Centre in Welland. The Knights opened the season series with a 61- 49 victory Nov. 22 in Kitchener.
Close loss at home
A battle between the eighthand 11th- ranked teams in Ontario men’s college basketball came down to the three- throw line.
While No. 11 Niagara won the battle of the boards, 50 rebounds to 35, No. 8 Redeemer had the much- hotter hand from the charity stripe.
Indeed, the visiting Royals were almost automatic, draining 20 of 24 attempts, an 83.3 per cent shooting efficiency. In comparison, the Knights finished the game with a success rate of only 42.9 per cent, shooting 9- for21.
“I thought both teams played well making for an exciting game,” Niagara head coach Mike Hurley said. “That proved to be the difference.”
The 79- 76 loss dropped thirdplace Niagara to 9- 4, while divisionleading Redeemer improved to 11- 1.
The Royals opened the homeandhome series with a 78- 66 victory Nov. 15 in Ancaster.
Standouts for the Knights: Levi Mukuna, 24 points, 11 rebounds, five assists; Van Hutchinson Jr., 19 points, 11 rebounds; Jordon McDonald, Johnnie Richardson, eight points; Kevin Cooper, 12 rebounds.
Up next for Niagara is an 8 p. m. home game Wednesday versus Conestoga, 3- 10.
The Knights grounded the Condors 90- 58 Nov. 22 in Kitchener to open head- to- head play.
Swept in V- ball
Niagara hopes to be on the winning end of sweeps for a change when the college volleyball season resumes Friday in Windsor.
That’s where the Knights can wrap up home- and- home series in men’s and women’s volleyball 2- 0.
Both Niagara teams defeated their St. Clair Saints counterparts in five sets Nov. 18 in Welland.
Nathan Groenveld’s men’s squad and Nathan Janzen’s women’s team are both coming off 3- 0 losses to the Mohawk Mountaineers Saturday in Hamilton.
The men lost their second straight to fell to 6- 6. Set scores were 25- 23, 25- 21, 25- 18 as Mohawk improved to 5- 6 and completed a sweep of the season series.
“All the credit goes to Mohawk, they played well really hard all match,” Groenveld said.
Niagara started well but was unable to finish the first set.
“We had a little stretch toward the end where we took our foot off the gas,” the coach said.
He attributed losses in the second and third sets to an inability to get any rhythm.
“I thought we played good defence but could not convert any offensive points.”
Janzen was disappointed that the women’s team was unable to avenge a 3- 0 loss to the Mountaineers in the first semester.
“Mohawk played great throughout the match, playing tenacious defence and hitting efficiently,” said Janzen, whose team lost its third in a row to fall to 7- 5.
Set scores in the women’s match were 25- 13, 25- 19, 25- 23.