– Craig Hagerman, staff

Women’s Team

The Golden Hawks women’s basketball team had their season come to an abrupt end after a loss to Brock University in the quarterfinals of the Ontario University Athletics Championship two weeks ago.

The loss was a hard pill to swallow for the team, as the girls had beat Brock earlier in the season, but as coach Falco explains, injuries were a huge factor in the team’s loss.

“Four players were injured, Amber Hillis & Sam Jacobs were out, and Doreen Bonsu & Bree Chaput played at less then 50% health”

The girls finished the season with a 13-9 record which was good enough for third in the OUA West.

However, the big highlight of this season was Shelby Kurt’s Rookie of the Year award, which was the second year in a row the award went to a player from Laurier.

“To be recognized as the top rookie in the OUA West is a significant accomplishment. She showed she can be a dynamic scorer by combining both outside shooting and interior play, which made her a difficult match-up for opposing teams,” says coach Falco.

The team’s season was lead by the exceptional play of veteran players Amber Hillis and Christa Mancino, who were the only two veterans on the team. Coach Paul Falco was also impressed with the solid play of Doreen Bonsu, Felicia Mazrolle, and Kim Yeldon

“Doreen Bonsu when healthy was a real force at both ends and Felicia Mazerolle took her game to a higher level in just her 2nd year and was named an OUA West all-star. Kim Yeldon was also one of our most consistent players, who probably competed as hard as anyone on the team.”

In all, the team is very optimistic about the future of the basketball program. The squad is full of many young and growing players such as Shelby Kurt, who may very well become the face of women’s basketball at Wilfrid Laurier in the near future.

Men’s Team

The Laurier Men’s basketball teams season also came to an end in a very heartbreaking fashion in their first playoff game against Guelph University. The team lost a close game to Guelph 61-58, losing by just a three-point field goal.  What made this loss even more discouraging for the team was the fact that during the season the Golden Hawks were able to defeat Guelph all three times they played them. This was highlighted by the game between the two where Laurier pummelled Guelph 100-69.

The guys had a very successful season finishing with an impressive 16-6, recording 32 points. These 32 points were good enough for 3rd in the West OUA and 4th in the province.

This season also saw two Golden Hawks named to the OUA all-star game. Both Maxwell Allin and Kale Harrison were named to play in the game. For Harrison it was the third time the fifth-year player has been named to the all-star game. Harrison ranked second in the entire OUA with 401 points this season and finishes his career third in all-time scoring with an impressive 1,918 points. Allin also had a very impressive season finishing with 332 points, an OUA 4th best 110 rebounds, and an average of 5.41 assists a game, good enough for 3rd in the OUA.

Going into next season it is already evident that the team will have some very big shoes to fill with the loss of four players, all of which have played for a league max of five years for the team. Among the four players moving on next season is all-star wing Kale Harrison.  Only time will tell if the team’s ability will be enough for them to compete for a championship, or if they will be watching the game from the bleachers.