Mackenzie Gerry

Box Score

Ilijana Vukovic (#5) celebrates with her Brock women's basketball teammates following their win over Western on March 23.

Western Mustangs WES 12-2

Brock Badgers BRO 12-0

Western Mustangs WES

12-2

Final

Mar. 23, 2022

Brock Badgers BRO

12-0

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Western Mustangs WES	14	16	9	19	58
Brock Badgers BRO	16	22	22	17	77

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 3/24/2022 12:44:00 AM | Dan Dakin

Perfect season continues for Brock women’s basketball team

Next Game:

Rams

3/26/2022 | Noon

Next Game

Full Schedule

Mar. 26 (Sat) / Noon

Rams

History

Recap
Roster

The Brock Badgers women's basketball team is heading back to the U SPORTS National Championships.

Perhaps signalling a changing of the guards, a rookie led Brock to a 77-58 win over the Western Mustangs Wednesday, March 23 on the same day graduating senior Samantha Keltos was named Ontario University Athletics (OUA) West Division MVP.

Despite Keltos no longer being with the team after leaving for a pro team in Australia at the end of the regular season, the Badgers proved too much for the Mustangs in the OUA Critelli Cup West Division Final at Bob Davis Gymnasium.

Rookie guard Madalyn Weinert, a Medical Sciences student from St. Catharines, had an impressive 18 points in the first half and 24 points overall in the win.

Brock will now host the Critelli Cup OUA championship game on Saturday at noon, but no matter what happens there, the Badgers have secured a place at the U SPORTS Final 8 being contested March 31 to April 3 in Kingston.

"This is the most exciting thing, especially with it being my first year," Weinert said. "We had a bit of a break and now we're coming back better than ever. It shows how as a team we can overcome things and have each other's backs."

Saturday's OUA final will be a rematch of the last Critelli Cup championship game in 2019-20, when the Badgers upset the Rams at the Mattamy Centre in Toronto. The Rams knocked off Carleton 62-47 in the OUA East Division final Wednesday night, setting up what should be a fantastic matchup at Brock's Bob Davis Gymnasium between the No. 1-ranked Badgers and No. 4-ranked Rams, both undefeated.

Brock head coach Mike Rao said he was extremely happy with the effort from his team.

"In the last game we didn't play as well except for a good defensive effort," said Rao, who was named OUA West Division Coach of the Year earlier in the day. "Tonight, we really teed it up well at both ends of the court and were shooting the ball a little better."

With most of the 2019-20 Brock team having graduated, Rao said he's especially happy to see the success of the next generation of Badgers players.

"This team really bought in and worked hard," he said. "It shows their resolve and understanding of the game."

The Badgers controlled the game early Wednesday, jumping out to an 8-0 lead to start the first quarter before Western got on the board and chipped away at the margin. Brock took a 16-14 lead into the second quarter, where Western came back to take its first lead of the game at 21-20.

That seemed to be a wake-up call for the Badgers, who responded to the lead change by pouring on the pressure and opening up a 31-25 advantage, eventually stretching that to 38-30 at halftime after being led by Weinert.

With Western struggling to sink anything in the third quarter, the rest of Brock's offence came alive with three separate shooters hitting three-pointers as the Badgers outscored the visitors 22-9 to take a 60-39 lead into the final frame.

The Mustangs put up a good fight there, outscoring Brock 19-17, but it was too little too late as the Badgers took the win to the delight of their home crowd.

Behind Weinert's 24 points, Mackenzie Robinson had 19 and Victoria Lawrence had 12. For Western, OUA West Rookie of the Year Madalyn Picton had 14 points and Brett Fischer had 13.

While the Badgers have guaranteed themselves a trip to Kingston, Rao said they won't take the Rams lightly in the Critelli Cup final.

"The Rams are one of the best teams in U SPORTS, so we're going to approach them the same way," he said. "We haven't played them this season, so I've got a lot of work to do."