November 8, 2025
WELLAND, ON: The Niagara Knights women's basketball team (1-5) secured their first win of the season against the Lambton Lions (2-2) on Friday evening, with a final score of 65-59.
The Knights stepped on the court confident and strong, outscoring the Lions 14-10 at the end of the 1st quarter. The Lions kept the pressure on, but the Knights didn't crack, heading into halftime with a score of 33-22 for the Knights.
Alyah Pereira, 2nd year guard for the Knights, dominated the1st half of the game, scoring 19 points (shooting 40% from beyond the arc) to lead the Knights into the final quarter with an impressive 53-38 lead.
Momentum for the Lions began to swing back, but the Knights stayed aggressive, leaving the court with a final of 65-59 and their first win of the season.
"We played a really good team offense, and we want to keep building on that." added 1st year guard Keira Teske. When asked if any of her teammates had been stepping it up this week, she mentioned guards Alyah Pereira and Lyric Shallow, stating "Alyah stepped up tonight, and Lyric really helped us and guided us not only tonight, but throughout this week during practice".
Along with guards Alyah Pereira and Lyric Shallow, 4th year guard, Lexxus Bell also played a major role in tonight's win, with a total of 13 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.
The Knights did not have much time to celebrate this win before they were back on the court for the 2nd game of their weekend double-header. This one brought the St. Clair Saints (2-2) to town for a 1pm game on Sunday, November 8th.
The Knights battled hard and showed great resilience but came up short against the St. Clair Saints in Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) play at the Simplii Financial Athletic Center in Welland. The final score of 58-54 in favor of St. Clair did not reflect the Knights' strong performance.
The Knights stormed out to a double-digit lead after the 1st quarter only to lose momentum and let the lead slip by the end of the 3rd. Things turned around for the Knights late in the 4th quarter as they went on a 4-minute 8-to-0 scoring run to bring the game within 1 point with less than a minute left. The Knights' comeback unfortunately came up just short.
Head coach Allie Columbus was pleased with the start of the game, however, says the next step for the team is to work on preventing lapses and working as a team. "I think it's important that we stick together" said Allie, "I also think it's important that as a team we
see the value of playing together and to see the value in playing unselfishly". Lyric Shallow had an excellent performance for the Knights, putting up 12 points, 3 steals, 2 assists, and 7 rebounds. She also led the team off the ball with her outstanding positional play.
The loss did not overshadow the Knights' strong performance. They will look to regroup and build on today's performance as well as aim to get back in the win column in their next matchup against Redeemer on November 15th. This matchup is Niagara College's ReuKnighted Alumni event, with women's basketball playing at 12pm, men's basketball at 2pm followed by women's volleyball at 6pm and men's volleyball at 8pm. Tune in to the action at OCAA LIVE if you cannot attend in person at the Simplii Financial Athletic Centre in Welland.
For more information on the Knights' teams, please visit us at www.goknights.ca
