HIGH ACHIEVERS: Algonquin Wolves win silver at OCAA women’s basketball championship

By Martin Cleary

For the past three years, the Algonquin College Wolves women’s basketball team has been the Beast in the East … at least during the regular season.

The Wolves zipped through their 2023-24 and 2022-23 regular seasons by winning the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association East Conference pennant with perfect 14-0 records. In the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened 2021-22 season, Algonquin was second at 7-1.

Algonquin was ranked among the Top 3 OCAA teams throughout this season, but moved into the No. 1 slot for the final seven weeks ahead of the playoffs.

But when it came to the post-season and the final rounds, the Wolves just couldn’t make or deny enough baskets over the past three provincial championship tournaments to win the college its seventh OCAA title of all-time.

After winning the early post-season games and settling for fourth place in 2022 and the bronze medal in 2023, Algonquin took a big step towards another championship last weekend, but left the court with a silver medal, which was its 15th podium since the program began in 1968. Algonquin has won a total of six gold, five silver and four bronze medals.

Lambton College Lions captured their first-ever OCAA women’s basketball crown, when they defeated Algonquin 78-56 in the final on its home court in Sarnia. A year ago, the Lions defeated the Wolves in the semifinals.

The Wolves advanced to their 12th OCAA championship game this season by defeating Conestoga Condors 62-46 in a qualifying game, Mohawk Mountaineers 66-58 in the quarterfinals and St. Clair Saints 73-58 in the semifinals.

Experiencing only one loss in its regular season and playoffs was hard to accept, especially when it happened in the gold-medal match.

“Having this be the first loss of our OCAA season was an incredibly hard way for our season to end,” Wolves’ head coach Jaime McLean wrote in an email interview. “I think we have taken a great deal of learning from this game and (it) will be great motivation for next season.”

The 2024-25 season could be a championship year, if you follow the sequence of results since 2022 – fourth, third, second…

Lambton essentially won the championship game in the first two quarters, outscoring Algonquin 26-13 and 24-6 for a huge halftime margin of 50-19. Algonquin battled back to win the final two quarters 13-12 and 24-16, but finished with an 18-point deficit at 78-56.

“The game against Lambton was very tough,” McLean added. “We knew that Lambton would like to play with pace and we did not succeed in slowing them down early.

“We also struggled to limit their open shots. Lambton also shot incredibly well and we struggled to get our open shots to drop.”

The Lions connected on 42.4 per cent of their field-goal attempts, while the Wolves could only manage 27.9 per cent. If shots were missed by either team, the Lions were there for the rebound and held a 61-31 margin over the Wolves.

Algonquin entered the final after a tough semifinal against St. Clair and its dynamic offence.

“Our game plan keyed around a couple things that St. Clair built their success on,” McLean continued. “We needed to limit their ability to get open 3s, not allow them to speed us up and to make sure we limited second chances.”

The Wolves finished their season with an overall record of 18-2, which included a pair of pre-season games against OUA opponents. Algonquin defeated Algoma University 64-35, but lost 64-55 to Nipissing University.

A strong combination of a number of returning players, the addition of two experienced transfer student-athletes and a great rookie class allowed McLean to be highly optimistic about the 2023-24 season.

“We knew we would have great potential and that we could achieve greatness, if we committed to each other and to work hard,” he wrote.

“I think the biggest reason for our success is the team culture our veterans have built over the last three years. They have set a high standard of competition, sportsmanship, integrity and selflessness.”

One of those veterans was point-guard Dasia McDonald, whose all-around play allowed her to win multiple, season-ending OCAA and Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association awards.

For the second consecutive year, McDonald was named the OCAA East Division player of the year as well as the defensive player of the year. She also was selected to the first all-star team for the third time, the OCAA championship tournament all-star squad and was a CCAA All-Canadian.

McDonald was a strong shooter, hitting 47.6 per cent of her shots and averaging 14.9 points a game. She also led the league in steals at 5.4 a game, had the best assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.1, was fourth in assists at 3.7 a game and added 6.3 rebounds a game.

“Dasia is an incredible young woman,” McLean enthused. “She is compassionate and a fierce competitor wrapped up together, which makes for a coaches’ dream.

“She also wants nothing more than her teammates to have the same success she does. She is incredibly deserving of all the awards she collected … for a second season in a row.”

McDonald had company on the awards list as forward Libby Hirst was selected to the OCAA first all-star team for the second year in a row and Cianah Miller was a second team selection.

Hirst averaged 10.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists a game, while Miller counted 9.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists a game.

Both players elevated their play in the final two games. Miller posted 22 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks in the final and was named the Wolves’ player of the game as well as a tournament all-star. Hirst was “a dominant force,” according to McLean in the semifinal with a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds.