Tianna Sullivan leads Huskies with 17 points
The George Brown women’s basketball team had their two-game winning streak snapped on Fri. Jan 29. The Huskies made costly mistakes throughout the game, losing to Algonquin College 65-51.
The Huskies started off slow, but put together several small runs in the first half to overpower the smaller Algonquin team, who couldn’t get much going against George Brown’s persistent one-on-one defence. The Huskies were down, 15-8, after a quarter, but outscored Algonquin, 15-10, in the second quarter, trailing by only two points at halftime, 25-23.
The Huskies struggled to maintain their cohesiveness down the stretch and gave up a 5-point lead late in the third quarter. Tianna Sullivan and Angel Mbikay were a large reason the Huskies were only down by 10 with 6:32 to play. But other than Melissa Vilar, who added 8 points, no one else on the team stepped up to support Sullivan and Mbikay.
George Brown ultimately lost the momentum they had in the first half and never recovered. Their defense continued to give up big shots and uncontested drives while continuously turning over the ball in the fourth quarter, failing to make any clutch baskets late in the game.
“I think we got tired to be honest with you,” coach Faith Asker said. “Maybe it’s the lack of conditioning but I don’t see that as an excuse for why we lost. We should have done a better job with the ball overall and it didn’t happen.”
Asker opened his post-game comments by saying his main concern was rebounding and their defence. In the second half the Huskies were hounded by Algonquin’s more aggressive defenders preventing them from getting good shots at the basket.
The team holds a 5-5 record for the season, while Algonquin picked up its second win of the week, improving to a record of 10-2. This was the second meeting between these teams. Algonquin beat the Huskies 74-33 in their first game of the season back on Oct 30, 2015.
Despite the disappointing loss, The Huskies have won two of their last three games, including a 15-point win over rival Durham College and a win against Georgian, 72-61. George Brown was led by Tianna Sullivan’s 17 points, while Angel Mbikay added 14.
With four more games left, George Brown will hope to make one final push for the long awaited playoffs.
