Reporter: Francis Viloria
The Durham Lords women’s basketball team fell to the Algonquin College Thunder, 57-45 on Nov. 1. The offence struggled mightily with turnover problems, scoring two points in the first 6 minutes, and Durham trailed 11-7 at the end of the first.
The second quarter was the same as the first. Algonquin turned up the defence, putting full-court pressure on the Lords and forcing turnovers, and the defence also took charge.
The three-point shooting was irrelevant in the first half.
The Thunder didn’t make a single three, going 0 for 10, and the only three for the Lords who were 1 for 9 came from Kauri LaFontaine with less than s minute left in the second. Algonquin had a slim 30-23 lead at halftime.
The Lords started to make a comeback in the third. Durham out-scored Algonquin 10-5 and they were only down 35-33.
The Thunder answered by going on an 8-0 run to end the quarter and the Lords were down 43-33.
The Lords were double-teaming the offensive player and she passed the ball to the open shooter and got a wide-open shot.
Kim Cupid of Algonquin started the fourth by putting pressure on the Lords point guard. She had two straight steals, which led to four straight points. For the shortest girl on the floor, she also grabbed a lot of offensive rebounds, six in the game. “We didn’t box out very well. We let the little girl come down the middle and get the boards,” said head coach Heather Lafontaine. “Our guards had to box out, because the big people under the basket have to take care of the big people,” she said.
Durham couldn’t stop the dribble penetration of the Thunder. If the layup missed, the offensive player got the rebound for another field goal attempt.
