MRU women cruise to weekend sweep at BU

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This article was published 20/01/2025 (241 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It took the Mount Royal Cougars 43 minutes of game time to find their form on the weekend.

After squeaking out a five-point win on Friday and going down 12-2 early on Saturday, they played like one of the top teams in Canada West women’s basketball, rolling to an 87-62 victory over the Brandon University Bobcats at the Healthy Living Centre.

“They’re a super well-coached team in the way they move off the ball, play off each other so we knew they’d make some adjustments and they did a good job,” said Bobcats coach Ilarion Bonhomme.

“They played a little bit harder, they knew what we were going to run a little bit better and they did what they do well, just better.”

As unlikely as it seemed entering the weekend, the Bobcats (2-12) had a legitimate chance of splitting with a top-15 team in Canada.

While a 25-point loss on Saturday wasn’t what anyone in gold wanted, the weekend was a big step in the right direction for Brandon.

Few would have predicted the way Bonhomme sat almost stunned at the end of the bench when the final buzzer sounded on Friday night — like two-win Brandon was actually supposed to beat 9-5 Mount Royal.

He believed — and still believes — this team can shock some teams if it gets hot.

“They’re really good. For us, it’s about trying to find consistency and that’s what happens with young teams, we’re up and down, up and down,” Bonhomme said.

“If you come watch us on the right day, we look really good but our lows are just low, low right now so we’re trying to limit that. And it takes time because we’re young but I think we’ll get there.”

The Bobcats raced out of the gates as Piper Ingalls, Abbey Shand and Faith Clearsky knocked down three-pointers to lead 12-2.

But after BU star Amaya McLeod took two quick fouls and headed to the bench, MRU found a bunch of open shots and hit them to lead 21-20 through 10 minutes.

The Cougars kept rolling with an 18-3 run through the first six minutes of the second quarter.

BU simply couldn’t contain forward Nora Luca or import guard Maddy Hooper, who combined for 25 points in the first half.

To make matters worse, Ingalls took one unsportsmanlike foul by hacking Megan Wellinghurst while she had a clear path to the basket in transition, then another a few minutes later by jumping into Wellinghurst, who was setting a pick on her.

Ingalls was ejected with three minutes left in the first half before MRU opened up a 48-28 lead at the break.

The Bobcats matched the Cougars shot for shot most of the third, which was nowhere near good enough to make it exciting as MRU backups put the game away in the final quarter with a 67-43 advantage to play with.

Shand piled up 12 points in the fourth for a game-high 24.

“A lot of positive takeaways. Obviously, Abbey Shand, 24 points from a first-year player is big time. She only played 22 minutes,” Bonhomme said.

“Ivy (Bestland) comes in, gives us really good minutes in limited time … We got 16 assists on the day so we’re moving in the direction we want to get to. The ball’s moving, the ball’s popping.”

Ingalls was still second on the Bobcats with nine points while Hooper led MRU with 14, all in the first half.

The Bobcats shot 30 per cent to the Cougars’ 37.5 but lost the rebound battle 54-34.

BU has a bye this weekend before back-to-back road trips to Calgary and Winnipeg.

“It’s just focusing on us, keep harping on our ball movement … our defensive rotations will be a big thing,” Bonhomme said.

“Our first rotation got a little bit better but we can’t make that second one and against the good teams, you’ve got to be able to make one, two rotations, If you can’t, you’re going to have nights like (Saturday).”

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