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Laurentian Voyageurs set their sights on playoffs

Sitting on the outside of post-season play in recent years, looking in, the Laurentian Voyageurs women's basketball team have made some strides towards respectability in the first half of the 2014-2015.
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The Voyageur win came after losses at the hands of the Ryerson Rams (79-42), University of Toronto Varsity Blues (63-53) and the Guelph Gryphons (67-57).
Sitting on the outside of post-season play in recent years, looking in, the Laurentian Voyageurs women's basketball team have made some strides towards respectability in the first half of the 2014-2015.

With a record of 3-4 at the Christmas break, the Voyageur ladies not only are sitting pretty as far as making a return to the playoffs in late February, but will enter the new year with a chance to jockey for positioning, looking to perhaps host a post-season encounter for the first time in several years.

The L.U. crew snapped a three-game losing skid in their final outing of 2014, taking down the Lakehead Thunderwolves 66-61. In doing so, the locals helped keep their Thunder Bay rivals within striking distance, with Lakehead falling to 4-3 with the loss.

Laurentian jumped all over the T-Wolves out of the gate, building up a 19-11 lead after ten minutes of play, up 25-24 at the half. The visitors surged again in the third quarter, outscoring Lakehead 19-14 and then trading basket for basket through the tail-end of the matchup.

Guards Danielle Harris and Adrienne Moreau provided a key one-two punch for coach Jason Hurley in the win, dropping 22 and 24 points respectively, and accounting for exactly 70% of the total Voyageur offense.

Nicole Eccles and L'Ashante Henry potted six points each, as Laurentian did their best to slow down OUA leading scorer Jylisa Williams. Averaging an astounding thirty points per game, the native of Atlanta, who played a season and a half with Georgia State before copping CCAA Player of the Year honours in 2013-2014 as a member of the Olds College Broncos (Alberta), Williams topped all scorers with 29 points.

While the teams were near dead-even in total rebounds, the Voyageurs could look to their perimeter shooting as providing the margin of victory over the Thunderwolves. Laurentian was an impressive 11/24 (45.8%) from beyond the arc, with Harris and Moreau combining for all eleven treys, while Lakehead struggled at 13.3% (2/15) from three-point land.

Devenae Bryce led the way for the homeside when it came to rebounding, grabbing eight boards, though this was truly a total team effort. Nine of the eleven Laurentian athletes who saw playing time in this encounter finished with at least one rebound.

The Voyageur win came after losses at the hands of the Ryerson Rams (79-42), University of Toronto Varsity Blues (63-53) and the Guelph Gryphons (67-57).

The blue and gold will open 2015 on the road, facing the York Lions (1-6) and Queen's Gaels (4-3) on January 9th and 10th, returning home the following weekend to host the McMaster Marauders (6-2) on Friday evening (Jan 16th) and Brock Badgers (3-4) the following night.

The off-season divisional restructuring for OUA basketball now finds the Laurentian squads in the North Division, with the Laurentian ladies currently trailing the Carleton Ravens and Ottawa Gee Gees, both at 5-3, but comfortably ahead of the winless Nipissing Lakers (0-6).

Harris (14.4 PPG), Moreau (11) and Bryce (10) currently key the offense, with Bryce, Moreau and Henry posting near identical team leading numbers in rebounding.

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