ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Lady Bruins dispatch of closest OCAA West competitor

BRAMPTON, Ont. (January 30) -- Ever since their first game in late September the goal of the Sheridan Bruins women's basketball team (22-5, 10-0 OCAA) has been to gradually improve their performance, allowing them to peak in late February and March.

And they appear to be on track to do so as the calendar inches closer to the postseason, closing out 2009's first month with a 81-47 victory over their closest OCAA West competitor, St. Clair.

"We played well. The girls knew that St. Clair is in second place in the division and they came out physical, so we just made some adjustments to our perimeter defence," head coach Shane Bascoe said. "Early on we got the ball into the post and that opened up a lot of things from there." After getting off to a slow start in their first meeting, the Lady Bruins looked for a reversal of fortune this time around. Bascoe says the team was a bit stunned at the intensity their opposition brought in that game in late November and that equalling that was important for them.

"St. Clair came out pretty pumped and they tried to defend their home court and we didn't respond the way I thought we would," he said. "Tonight I told them that it was important to have a better start and I think they responded with the 18-point halftime lead."

Caity Wright was an early spark plug for the team as a 12-4 run opened a double digit lead that Lady Bruins would not relinquish. Wright finished the contest with a game-high 12 points.

The team has five games remaining before the playoffs begin, with the first being a non-conference tilt against George Brown at home on February 3 followed by their fifth meeting of the season with Fanshawe on February 6. Bascoe says the plan moving forward will be very simple.

"We need to stay healthy, continue to work on our defence because that's what seems to be carrying us through the second half of the year and we need to do a better job of shooting," he said. "I've been amazed at how bad we're shooting from the perimeter and still we're winning games by a large margin."

Blue notes: The game was a part of the second annual Think Pink event where the entire Sheridan community comes together to raise money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. All told, Think Pink at Sheridan generated over $11,000.