Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos

The Algoma Thunderbirds’ basketball teams faced tough losses in their OUA weekend matchups over the November 23rd and 24th weekend at the George Leach Centre in Sault Ste Marie, with both the women’s and men’s teams falling short against the York Lions and Brock Badgers. The women were narrowly edged out by York 61-58 in a hard-fought contest on Saturday afternoon, before suffering a more decisive defeat to Brock, losing 71-44 in game two in a Sunday afternoon matinee. On the men’s side, the Thunderbirds came close to pulling off an upset against York but fell 67-64 in a tightly contested game on November 23rd. They struggled in their second game of the weekend, dropping 87-65 to Brock on November 24th. Despite the setbacks, the Thunderbirds continue to battle hard in a competitive league, looking to bounce back in future matchups.

Women’s coach Katie Hamilton told Saultsports that “I was super proud of our performance on Saturday vs York. York is an extremely physical team with a distinct size advantage on us. We battled hard, executed our game plan to perfection and just missed a couple open looks at the end to put it away. But, I can’t say enough about how happy I was with our performance and compete for that game. It was a real step forward for us. Now, on the back side of the double we came out really flat against Brock and looked not ready to play and compete. They are the number 10 ranked team in the country for a reason, and we just weren’t able to match their skill, talent and aggression. Anytime you give up 30 plus offensive rebounds, it is going to be a long night. We are hoping for a strong, physical and aggressive outing vs Mac to round out our first semester.”

“This weekend we played better basketball. Friday we were in a close one but we weren’t able to close it out. Saturday, on the back to back our guys fought for the full 40 minutes. I felt like we were more connected throughout the week and weekend. We will need to focus on these upcoming practices and get ready for our last game before the break,” added men’s coach Ryan Vetrie.

Sunday, November 24 
Women (1:00 p.m)
Brock Badgers (71) vs (44) Algoma Thunderbirds
Brock Badgers
Angeline Campbell (37 mins) 18pts
Madalyn Weinert (26 mins) 16pts
Oluwatito Akinnusi (21 mins) 10pts
Allison Addy (15 mins) 10pts

Algoma Thunderbirds
Kaila Fong (37) 20pts
Riya Donnelly (24 mins) 11pts
Nadia Singh (28 mins) 6pts

Men(3:00 p.m)
Brock Badgers (87) vs (65) Algoma Thunderbirds
Brock
Davante Hackett (20 mins) 14pts
Anthony Heyes (18 mins) 13pts
Thierry Tshibula (23 mins) 12pts

Algoma
Jean-Michael Senatus (16 mins) 13 pts
Ibrahima Yansane (32 mins) 13pts
Adong Dut (24 mins) 9pts
Johan Germaine (20 mins) 9pts

Saturday, November 23 
Women (1:00 p.m)
York Lions (61) vs (58) Algoma Thunderbirds
York Lions
Bilan Khadar (26 mins) 20pts
Naimh Heath (23 mins) 12pts
Ashanti Christian (37 mins) 6pts

Algoma Thunderbirds
Kaila Fong (38 mins) 31pts
Mercedes Mazzuca (32 mins) 11pts
Nadia Singh (37 mins) 6pts

Men (3:00 p.m)
York Lions (67) vs (64) Algoma Thunderbirds
York Lions
Nathan Carr (37 mins) 22pts
Travon Hamilton (36 mins) 21pts
Liam Rietschin (30 mins) 8pts

Algoma
Johan Germaine (33 mins) 14pts
Khamani Steckler (27 mins) 12pts
Kal El Alejo (26 mins) 9pts
Jean-Luc Cubahiro (19 mins) 9pts

Check out Freeze Frame Photos by Bob Davies photo gallery of the Algoma Thunderbirds versus Brock Badgers in men’s OUA action.

The Algoma Thunderbird women and men’s basketball programs will head to Hamilton, Ontario to close out their 2024 portion of the 2024 – 2025 OUA basketball season when they take on the McMaster Marauders on December 1st with the women’s tipoff at 1:00 p.m followed by the men starting at 3:00 p.m.