GUELPH, Ont. - The Laurier Golden Hawks women's basketball team was back on the court Friday night to take on the Guelph Gryphons. After losing their first two games, Laurier was looking to bounce back and play a solid four-quarter game and get their first tally in the win column. The Golden Hawks let the third quarter slip away from them though and fell to the Gryphons 95-80. 

The first quarter saw Laurier jump out to an early lead by scoring 23 points (which turned out to be their highest in a quarter on the night) and putting the pressure on Guelph to make some difficult shots. 

Playing in just her third career OUA game, Janet Enge led the scoring in the opening frame with five points. The second-year forward would eventually finish with a career-high 11. While Laurier did get out-rebounded, the Hawks took a four-point advantage into the second quarter. 

Reigning team MVP Cassidy Hirtle found her scoring touch in the second, shooting the lights out by going three for four from the field and a perfect two for two from three, tallying eight points in the frame. However, Guelph played an excellent quarter, shooting 68% from the field and recording 26 points. 

Turnovers were limited by both teams, but Guelph was strong on the glass and converted on a few second-chance opportunities. After the first half of play, Laurier trailed 45-44.

Lauriers' struggles in the second half from games one and two continued on this night with the Hawks getting outscored 31-16 in the third quarter. While the Hawks shot about 42 percent from the field, Guelph recorded ten more shots than the purple and gold. Guelph out-rebounded Laurier 13-3 with four offensive rebounds leading to second-chance points. Guelph shot well from beyond the arch too, going 5 for 11 to open up a 16-point lead after three.

The Hawks found their footing again in the fourth quarter, but the damage was done as the Gryphons' lead was too much to overcome. Rookie Brittyn Graves led Laurier in scoring in the fourth quarter with six points to finish with a team-high 13 (along with Hirtle) on the night. Alexa Sawchuk also matched a career-high with seven rebounds, but it wasn't enough as Guelph won their home opener and first game of the season. 


Top Performers
Laurier Golden Hawks 
Brittyn Graves
The first-year guard played an extremely productive game off the bench, scoring 13 points with an assist, rebound and steal in just 20 minutes of action.

Guelph Gryphons
Natalie Vigna
Vigna played an outstanding game, dropping 30 points while shooting 5-10 from beyond the arc. She also pulled down four rebounds.

Up Next
Laurier (0-3) travels to Toronto to take on the Varsity Blues ((2-1) on Saturday, November 12 at 6 PM. Catch all the action live on OUA.tv.