The Fanshawe Falcons bench celebrates a three-pointer against the Lambton Lions.
Courtesy: Matt Hiscox
The Fanshawe Falcons held the Lambton Lions to just 15 points in the second half in an 84-42 win on Wednesday night. Fanshawe moves to 5-1 on the year, putting them in first place in the OCAA West.
The first half was a defensive war. The Falcons struggled to shoot from the field, hitting just one of nine three-pointers in the first quarter. The Falcons’ top shooter, Chuot Angou, found herself in early foul trouble, sitting for a majority of the second quarter.
Fanshawe Falcons guard Ashleigh LaBlance dribbling past a Lambton Lions defender.
Courtesy: Matt Hiscox
Fanshawe did eventually heat up from beyond the arc. In Angou’s absence in the second quarter, rookie Ashleigh LaBlance went off for a perfect 3-3 shooting in the quarter, including 2-2 from three-point land.
“The rookies just take some time to settle in. [LeBlance] has been shooting well in practice and we’re like ‘one of these days, she’s going to go off’ and today was her day,” said Carriere on her rookie guard, who finished with a career-high 11 points on 4-5 shooting, hitting all three of her attempts from beyond the arc.
Both teams struggled to shoot. The Lions shot 31 per cent, while the Falcons shot 32 per cent from the field in the first half. The difference came from the bench, with the Falcons outscoring the Lions’ bench by 10 points after the first quarter.
“Historically, we’ve been a strong shooting team. They weren’t dropping in the first half – that’s going to happen,” said Assistant Coach Nicole Carriere on her team’s slow start. “We just knew that our defence was going to pull us through.
The third quarter was all Falcons. Fanshawe opened up with a 13-3 run in the opening minutes to force an early timeout from the Lions. Chuot Angou was finally able to get going, hitting a nice runner while being fouled and knocking down a three. Once Lambton adjusted their defence to consider Angou as a threat, it opened things up for the Falcons offence.
Fanshawe Falcons player Mikhaila Wright elevating for a pass against the Lambton Lions.
Courtesy: Matt Hiscox
“Any time Chuot’s going, the whole group is pretty excited. We’re lucky to have a shooter like that’s so dynamic and can score the ball whenever she wants. It helped propel our offence and I thought the whole team did a good job continuing what she started in the third quarter,” said Carriere.
It was a defensive gem for the Falcons in the second half. They gave up just six field goals combined in the third and fourth quarters. It was a near-perfect half of basketball. Something that even the coaching staff was wowed by.
“We were surprised by 15, that’s very low,” commended Carriere. “We continue to emphasize defence…and everybody that goes in we roll the lines, you’re working hard on D and if you’re tired, you come off for a bit and someone else goes out and works hard.”
Sydney Kendellen and Natalie Warren also finished with 11 and 12 points, respectively for the Falcons. All but one player ended up with points for Fanshawe.
