St. Catharines’ Brock Badgers set up rematch in semifinal at U Sports women’s basketball championship

The Brock Badgers’ OCAA transfers, Ivana Twumasi and Victoria Lawrence, spurred the St. Catharines squad on to semifinal Saturday — and a shot at payback — at the U Sports women’s basketball championship.

The Badgers earned an 85-74 win against the Acadia Axemen on Thursday afternoon in Kingston, Ont., advancing to a semifinal against the No. 1-seeded Rams fron downtown Toronto. Twusmasi, who came to Brock to study psychology and play basketball after previously playing for the Humber Hawks, led a Badgers offence-by-committee with 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting. Lawrence was also a stellar sixth woman, as the George Brown College transfer scored 15 points and making a game-high six steals in 24 minutes.

Rookie Maddie Weinert, who has stepped into the forward role that second-team all-Canadian Samantha Keltos filled all season, had a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Fifth-year senior Mackenzie Robinson added 16 points.

The Badgers and Rams will tip off at 3 p.m. on Saturday (April 2). The game, and entire tournament, can be streamed at CBC Gem and cbcsports.ca.

Brock was on the floor for the first time since squandering a 22-point fourth-quarter lead against the Rams last Saturday in the OUA Critelli Cup at Bob Davis Gymnasium. The undefeated Rams pulled out a two-point overtime win to cement their No. 1 seeding nationals, with Brock ending up on the same side of the tournament draw.

The Badgers flirted with a repeat performance on Thursday. Acadia, which was paced by Jayda Veinot’s 23 points, whittled Brock’s 16-point late third-quarter lead to five points with five minutes to play. But Twumasi helped right the Badgers by completing a layup through contact and making the free throw for a three-point play and a 74-66 advantage. Brock kept the lead in double digits after a Robinson steal and a jump shot with 2:41 to play.

The Rams scored a dominating 80-49 win against the UPEI Panthers in the opening game of the tournament. Rachel Farwell of Rothesay, N.B., scored a game-high 25 points on 8-for-15 shooting, including seven three-pointers.

The host Queen’s Gaels and No. 3 Winnipeg Wesmen will meet in the other semifinal on Saturday. Queen’s upset Saskatchewan 62-55 on Thursday, while Winnipeg easily handled Laval 81-67.

The championship game is at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

The men’s basketball Badgers, who are seeded No. 1, face the Saskatchewan Huskies at 3 p.m. Friday in the opening game at the men’s championship in Edmonton.

Two-time defending champion Carleton, led by Niagara River Lions standout Lloyd Pandi, is the No. 7-seeded wild-card team and faces No. 2 Victoria at 10 p.m. on Friday.

The Saskatchewan-Brock winner moves to face the Dalhousie-Queen’s winner at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Hockey Badgers blanked

A former Niagara IceDog played a part in the Brock Badgers exiting from the U Sports University Cup men’s hockey tournament after a defeat in the opening game.

Matthew Philip, who played for the IceDogs from 2016 to ’19, had two assists as the St. Francis Xavier X-Men defeated Brock 3-0 in Wolfville, N.S., on Thursday. Philip assisted on two goals by Matthew Struthers, a Milton native.

Mario Peccia made 32 saves for the Badgers and Adam Berg earned the team’s player-of-the-game award, as Brock finished with a 10-9-2 record.