The York University Lions women's basketball team hosted the Queen's Gaels for their 2018-2019 home opener at the Tait McKenzie Center on Friday and finished with a 66-57 defeat. 
 
Queen's Veronika Lavergne scored the first points of the game a with a two-point jump shot, while Lions' transfer from UBC Emma Jonas secured the first two points of the season for the Lions. The Lions led throughout the remainder of the first quarter with another five points by Jonas, one of them a three-point jump shot, four points by 5th year guard Chante Clarke, and a three-point shot by third year Megan MacLeod. 
 
Going into the second quarter of the game, the Lions had a two-point lead (14-12). York captain Katrina Collins-Samuels scored the first points of the second quarter. Throughout the remainder of the quarter, the game remained tight between the Lions and the Gaels. Jonas and Avery Bathe-Minard led in points during the second quarter. The Gaels, however were able to score 20 points in the quarter as the Lions scored 16. The quarter ended with another two-point separation, 32-30 for Queen's going into the second-half.
 
The third quarter was similar to the first two, with the Gaels and the Lions very close in range with Jonas, Clarke and Collins-Samuels adding more points for the Lions. As a team, Queen's was able to keep their two-point lead at the end of the 3rd-quarter as well, as they scored 16-points, which was matched by the Lions' as they kept the pressure against the Gaels and also scored 16-points. 
 
Queen's was able to further their lead in the fourth quarter as they added 18 more points to the score-board with Marianne Alarie securing 10 points for Queen's. 
 
Jonas led the Lions in scoring with 15 points in a team high 37 while also picking up three rebounds and two assists. Clarke added 13 points and three rebounds while Collins-Samuels also had a strong game with 12 points, seven assists, four rebounds and three steals. Alaried led the way for the Gaels with 26 points and 12 rebounds.
 
The game ended in a hard-fought 66-57 win for the Gaels at the Lions' home opener. The Lions play the Windsor Lancers next weekend in Windsor, Ont. on Nov. 2 in their next game.