The Brock women's basketball team hosts the Laurier Golden Hawks in the opening round of the OUA women's basketball playoffs on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at Bob Davis Gymnasium.
Tipoff is 6 p.m. Get your tickets here.
They begin their quest for the Critelli Cup as the OUA West's fourth seed with a record of 11-13.
The Badgers missed the playoffs last season, and haven't competed in the post-season since 2017 when they exited the preliminary round with a loss to Lakehead.
First-year head coach Mike Rao said the fifth-seed Golden Hawks (9-15) will be a tough test.
"Laurier is a very physical team. They are well coached and move the ball extremely well," said Rao. "They can shoot the three and go inside. They are very difficult to defend."
These two teams met during different segments of the season.
Brock and Laurier split the regular season series 1-1. In the first game of the regular season, Brock lost to Laurier 63-51 at home, but the Badgers defeated Laurier 59-53 in Waterloo in their second meeting on Jan. 9.
"Defensively, Laurier pressures the ball and makes it extremely difficult for us to run our sets," said Rao. "I expect them to stretch the floor on us offensively and defensively."
Fourth-year guard Melissa Tatti led the Badgers with 16.2 points per game, which was good for third in the OUA. Kristin Gallant, a second-year guard, registered 11.1 ppg.
Laurier generates a majority of their offence from Jill Condron (12.8 ppg) and Brianna Iannazzo (12.7).
The Badgers averaged 64.2 points per game at Bob Davis Gymnasium, while the Golden Hawks recorded 58.4 ppg on the road.
Brock also holds the edge in rebounds per game with 44.4 at home compared to Laurier's 28.5, however the Golden Hawks are just a tick above the Badgers in field goals (34.9-33.1).
In the paint, Brock's senior centre Courtney Mcpherson (7.9 rebounds per game) will likely faceoff against Condron (six rebounds per game).
"Laurier will exploit mismatches on the floor," said Rao. "We have to rotate better and defend close outs better than we have been. It will be a tough matchup for us, but this is what we've worked hard all year for."
