TORONTO — The McMaster Marauders have captured their first Bronze Baby.
Sarah Gates and Linnaea Harper scored 18 points apiece as the second-seeded Marauders upset No. 1 seed Laval Rouge et Or 70-58 to win the U Sports women's basketball title on Sunday, in their first-ever appearance in the gold-medal game.
Harper captured tournament MVP honours for her performance.
Sarah-Jane Marois, who earlier in the week won the Nan Copp Award as player of the year, led Laval with 21 points.
The Marauders had dispatched Saskatchewan in the semifinals to earn their berth in the final, while Laval, the silver medallists in the 2017 national tournament, topped Ottawa.
The victory is a first as a coach for Theresa Burns, who's in her 26th season at McMaster, and won a Canadian university title as a player with the University of Toronto in 1986.
Both programs had remarkable seasons. Laval went 17-1 through the regular-season and playoffs, while McMaster went 24-3, upsetting Ottawa to win the Ontario conference championship.
On Sunday, neither team was hitting shots in a messy first quarter, and McMaster led 11-10 to start the second.
The Rouge et Or calmed down in the second and when Marois, a fifth-year guard, connected on back-to-back threes, Laval went up by seven points. The Rouge et Or took a 33-27 lead into the halftime break.
Laval's shooting went ice cold in the third — just 11 per cent from the field — and the teams headed into fourth quarter knotted at 44-44.
McMaster raced out to an early seven-point lead in the fourth, Laval managed to battle back to within a point, but Gates answered with two big baskets to give the Marauders a four-point lead with three-and-a-half minutes to play. It was virtually all McMaster the rest of the way.
When Harper scored with 1:20 to play, the crowd erupted in a roar, and the Marauders went ahead by 10 points.
The gold-medal matchup was virtually a home game for the Marauders. Hundreds of McMaster fans, with maroon and white scarves looped around their necks, made the trip up from Hamilton to pack the MAC. An announced crowd of 1,684 took in the game at the 2,800-seat Mattamy Athletic Centre, normally home to Ryerson University.
Several current and retired national team players sat courtside including WNBA stars Kia Nurse (whose mom Cathy played for McMaster) and Natalie Achonwa, and retired national team players Lizanne Murphy and Tamara and Alicia Tatham.
The Ottawa Gee-Gees won bronze earlier in the day, roaring back from a 19-point first-half deficit to beat the Saskatchewan Huskies 63-62.
Sarah Besselink scored 13 points for No. 4 Ottawa.
Sabine Dukate had 15 points for third-seeded Saskatchewan, while Summer Masikewich had 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Saskatchewan raced out to a 19-12 lead to end the first quarter, then went ahead by 19 in the second before taking a 41-27 advantage into the halftime break.
But Ottawa battled back in the third, and took a 48-47 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Gee-Gees went up by seven points in the fourth before Dukate connected from three-point range to pull Saskatchewan to within a point twice in the final three minutes. A shot by Masikewich bounced off the rim at the final buzzer.
Lori Ewing , The Canadian Press
