Mounties Push Defending CCAA Champions to the Limit

The Mount Allison Mounties put a big scare into the 2-time defending CCAA women's basketball champion Montmorency Nomades before ultimately falling 71-62 during Thursday's quarter final action.  The game marked the first appearance for the Mounties at the CCAA National championships since 2005-2006 and the Mounties wasted no time showing that they belong.

The eight seeded Mounties were heavy underdogs against the top seeded Nomades and after a valiant start to the game, it looked like the Nomades were cruising to victory by halftime.  After building a 21-15 first quarter lead, the defending champion Nomades saw their lead bulge to 21 and as the buzzer sounded for halftime the Mounties found themselves down 44-23.

But the young and scrappy Mounties, showing the same tenacity that got them to nationals, showed that they were not going to give up.  The Mounties cut into the lead a little by outscoring the champs 19-17 in the 3rd quarter.  The real drama, however, came in the 4th quarter when the Mounties climbed all the way to within 7 points of the Nomades, trailing 69-62 with 1 minute remaining.  In the end the Mounties outscored Montmorency 20-10 in the 4th quarter en route to the 71-62 loss.

Third year Mountie Maddy MacDonald of Riverview, NB found the hot hand in the 2nd half, leading the Mounties with 22 points on the day.  Freshman Mountie Lauren MacEachern of Amherst, NS chipped in with 17 points of her own, including going 5/6 from 3-point range.  Fifth year Mountie Mackenzie Gray was named the Mounties Player of the Game.  She finished the day with 11 points and 7 rebounds.

The Mounties will now face the loser of Humber College and Ste Foy on Friday, March 20th at 1PM pacific.