GUELPH, ON - There are many new faces playing key roles on the Guelph Gryphons women's basketball team in what's become a transitional 2016/17 OUA regular season. But it was a familiar one that helped down the Gryphons Saturday night. Former Guelph guard Bridget Atkinson scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Brock Badgers to a 75-63 win over the U of G at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre.

Gryphons head coach Mark Walton knows his young team needs to make adjustments and against the Badgers, his players showed flashes of what they were capable of. They just lack the consistency of a veteran lineup.

"We need to get the players to make sure that they're buying into all of the philosophical things because there are a lot of differences from things they did last year and in the past to now," said Walton. "They're starting to figure it out."

Ivana Vujadinovic had a team-high 19 points for the Gryphons (2-12), who split their weekend games after defeating Algoma Friday for their first win in the new GGAC. Megan Brenkel was a spark, adding 15 points to go with 6 rebounds and a game-high 6 assists.

 

Vujadinovic, a second-year guard from Burlington, was a presence all game. She was efficient on offence, making 7 of 11 field goal attempts and 5 of 6 free throws. Two of those free throws came midway through the third to get the Gryphons within 7 points at 43-36 but a Jessica Morris three-pointer put Brock up by double digits again. It was the closest Guelph would get as the Badgers would pull away.

"It's a building year for us," said Vujadinovic, who suggested facing Atkinson was 'just another game'. "From our first game of the season to tonight, we've progressed as a team together. We're working on it."

Brock was down a few bodies, including the OUA's leading scorer Kira Cornelissen (20 ppg), but pushed the pace despite dressing just eight players. Depth wasn't necessary as Atkinson took the game over from the tip and either distributed or found her way to the basket with ease.

Atkinson, the former CIS Rookie of the Year at Guelph, entered the game averaging 13.8 ppg and came out firing, scoring 10 of her 27 points in the opening quarter alone.

 

Walton acknowledged Akinson's impact. But he admitted the Gryphons didn't make it hard enough for the talented point guard.

"She did everything they wanted her to do and we made her look great," the coach said. "We just didn't guard the pass entries to her. She had 27 points and probably 25 were layups."

Guelph also had a hard time defending the perimeter as Brock was relentless from outside the arc, hitting 7 of 14 three-point attempts, including a few timely makes that killed the hosts' momentum. The Gryphons managed to hits just 2 of 13 from long range. That difference was critical for the Badgers, who were forced into more mistakes as the game went on.

"We made them turn it over 20 times and that should be enough to win you the game," said Walton. "But we need to have that aggressiveness consistently, all the time, on every play."

The visitors got off to a strong start with Atkinson scoring the Badgers' first four points. Long three-pointers from Melissa Tatti and Baelie Campbell help build an early cushion and Walton had to call a timeout an easy layup put Brock up 16-6 with 3:37 left in the opening quarter.

Guelph was better defensively in the second quarter but was unlucky to head into half time down 39-26 after Tatti hit a running three-pointer at the buzzer. 

The women hit the road for games at Nipissing and Laurentian next weekend.
 

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