Sending their seniors off on a winning note, the Simon Fraser University women’s basketball team put down a convincing performance in outlasting the Saint Martin’s University Saints 77-57 on Saturday.
With the Clan’s two seniors playng their final home game on Burnaby Mountain, the squad owned the paint and outscored the Saints 40-28 from inside while boosting their win streak to four games.
While the visitors pushed ahead by six points in the early going, SFU found a rhythm and pried open a 22-18 lead after one quarter. Kendal Sands’ three-pointer to open the second frame gave the hosts the jump they needed to shoot down any Saints rally, as the Clan took control 42-28 after 20 minutes.
They’d ramp it up in the third quarter, going ahead 66-41 en route to improving to 16-7 (12-4 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play).
Forward Ozioma Nwabuko led the way, going 10-of-11 for a game-high 20 points, and added three rebounds. Claudia Hart knocked down 13 points and added three assists.
Senior Sophie Swant chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds, while Sands ended up with 10 points and a pair of steals.
The team’s other senior, six-foot-three Samantha Beauchamp, contributed two points, three rebounds and two blocks before fouling out late in the second quarter.
"It was disappointing that (Beauchamp) couldn't be out there (in the second half), but we played the end for her," said Hart.
It came just two days after the squad silenced Seattle Pacific 82-61 on Burnaby Mountain, thanks to a red-hot 34-point effort from Swant. The five-foot-11 forward knocked down a pair of early treys to put SFU in the driver’s seat, followed by three three-pointers from junior Tayler Drynan.
They led 37-34 at halftime, then were put on their heels when Seattle came out with a bump to go ahead 41-37. A string of threes, by freshman Emma Kramer, Swant and Hart, flipped the lead to the Clan’s favour.
Swant’s performance was the ninth highest in a game in SFU women’s hoop history, and fifth most in the NCAA-era. Twenty-four of her points came from beyond the arc, as she hit on eight-of-13 three pointers. The team totalled 16 treys, just one short of the GNAC record.
Drynan finished with 17 points and eight assists.
SFU now heads out to wrap up the regular season with four road games, starting Thursday in Idaho against Northwest Nazarene.
