Ooks soar past Broncos in Olds

The NAIT Ooks took control late in the first quarter and found their stride from there, defeating the Olds College Broncos 81-44 at the Ralph Klein Centre on Sunday.

Rory Vandermeer put in a strong showing for NAIT (3-2) as she finished with a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds, while Abi Payne was productive off the bench with 14 points, seven rebounds and six steals, and Payton Neilson posted 11 points and four rebounds.

For the Broncos (1-4), Caitlin Paul led the way with 13 points, five rebounds and four steals, while Meghan Swartz had nine points, four rebounds and four steals, and Bree Hagen added nine points of her own.

The opening quarter was evenly contested most of the way, with the Broncos holding an 11-10 lead with two minutes to play in the opener. However, NAIT went on a run to end the quarter up 18-11, which then continued to expand to 38-15, with only a buzzer-beating three from Swartz cutting the Ooks lead to 38-18 at halftime.

Olds College briefly pushed back late in the third quarter to cut the lead to 15, only for NAIT to respond and expand the lead to 58-38 heading to the fourth, where they effectively shut down the Broncos.

NAIT has the week off before hosting the St. Mary's University Lightning on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m., while the Broncos will head to Calgary on Remembrance Day to play the SAIT Trojans at 3 p.m.

Both matchups will be broadcast live on ACACTV.ca, as well as on TELUS OptikTV channel 1998.

Players of the Game
NAIT | Rory Vandermeer
OLDS | Bree Hagen