Fifth-year Jenny Wright hit the 1,000-point milestone for CIS basketball in the Gaels’ 64-61 victory over Laurier.

“I honestly don’t know whether she was aware of it or not,” Head Coach Dave Wilson said. “I certainly wasn’t paying any attention to it, and Jenny wasn’t making any issue of it. She hasn’t said a thing about it, actually.” 

In the weekend, which also included an 84-69 victory in Waterloo, Wright averaged 14.5 points, four rebounds, one assist and 1.5 steals. 

Forward Robyn Pearson finished Friday night’s performance against the Laurier Golden Hawks with 12 points and 13 rebounds, and guard Emily Hazlett snagged nine rebounds and 10 points. Their efforts helped the Gaels go into the winter holidays with a comfortable 6-1 record.

“We had our eyes set on that record,” Wilson said. 

However, Friday night’s game against the Golden Hawks posed a threat to achieving this goal, as there were 17 lead changes and nine tied scores in the heated game. 

“We try to not get too high or too low on any circumstance — when we take the lead or when we fall behind. We try to keep the focus just on execution. And I think one of the strong points in that game was our composure,” Wilson said. 

Remaining level-headed allowed the Gaels to keep their lead during the fourth quarter. However, the 64-61 victory was a lucky break after a Golden Hawk missed a three-point shot in the final minute. 

In their Saturday match, the Gaels shot 45 per cent from the field against the Waterloo Warriors. However, the Gaels expect such a percentage of themselves, and Wilson made it clear that they shot well relative to the past few games, but not in general. 

“We’ve actually been shooting the ball poorly on average up until that point. We got a little bit more relaxed in our shooting and it felt a little bit more comfortable going in,” Wilson said. “That’s why we feel as good as we do now going into the Christmas break as we feel like we’ve broken that crust off of our shooting a little bit.”  

The Gaels controlled the offensive glass, outscoring the Warriors 22-6 in second chance points. Good shooting combined with aggressive rebounding would contribute to their 71-47 lead  going into the fourth. 

“We went out into the third quarter and basically put the game away,” Wilson said. 

Despite the Gaels’ 15-point win, they allowed 22 points against them in the fourth quarter. 

“Defensively, I thought we still struggled with some things and gave up more points than I would like,” Wilson said. “Waterloo did a really good job of executing their offensive game plan, and we struggled a little bit in slowing it down.”

Going into the winter holidays, the Gaels will rest from the grind and approach the New Year with new goals. While they get this last week of classes off, practice resumes for two weeks, next week. 

“We want them to reflect on their accomplishments and reflect on what we think they can improve upon themselves going forward.”