The Brock Badgers painted the Meridian Centre red with a double win Saturday night.

The Badgers basketball teams dominated the hardcourt during their fifth annual Paint the Meridian Red event in downtown St. Catharines.

The No. 8 Brock women's team defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues 84-69 and the men's team celebrated a 75-65 win, their first at the Meridian.

"The experience of playing in this venue, in front of our crowd, there's nothing else like it," said women's head coach Mike Rao. "It's a great event for the University and the program. It's a great day for Brock basketball and Brock University."

The women's team fell behind by double digits in the first quarter, yet chipped away and closed out the frame with an emphatic jump shot by fifth-year guard Melissa Tatti.

Toronto would never regain the lead. Brock carried a 38-25 lead into halftime and 65-46 into the final quarter.

After posting seven points in the first half, forward Jessica Morris led all Badgers with 20 points.

"Jessica Morris played a tremendous second half," said Rao. "I thought she was dialed in."

Tatti finished with 18 points, 10 assists and five rebounds while Kristin Gallant netted 13 and Sam Keltos tallied 10, including six rebounds.

For Toronto, Sarah Bennett and Christine Jurcau scored 20 and 18 points, respectively.

MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM WINS FIRST MERIDIAN CENTRE GAME

The men's team was led by second-year forward Godsman Kwakwah, who poured in 26 points and added five boards.

Brock built a 33-22 lead at halftime and Toronto wouldn't make a push until the third quarter.

Senior Brock guard Tyler Brown led all players with 13 assists, and chipped in 11 points.

"It was good to have energy and to feed off the crowd," said head coach Willy Manigat. "This is a special event for our guys, but more importantly for a guy like TB (Tyler Brown) to win his first one and for me to be a part of it is pretty special. This is a step in the right direction."

The Badgers have been hosting Paint the Meridian Red games since 2015, but had yet to win one prior to Saturday night.

Fourth-year forward Daniel Cayer secured a game-high 14 rebounds and notched 12 points and third-year guard Daniel Caldwell, who caught the eye of coach Manigat, scored a career-high 18 points off the bench.

"I think guys finally stopped putting so much pressure on themselves," said Manigat. "We saw something from Caldwell tonight that we haven't seen from him before in a game. I think he understands that playing freely is working for him. Some other people might be surprised by his performance tonight, but I'm not. It's exactly what I expected for him."

Up next, the men's team (6-6) and women's team (10-2) look ahead to hosting the Western Mustangs at Brock's Bob Davis Gymnasium on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets can be found here.