London Lightning knock off 1st-place St. John’s to keep streak going

The London Lightning have won six straight.

On Thursday at Budweiser Gardens, they took care of the Central Division-leading St. John’s Edge with a 121-103 victory.

As they have been doing throughout much of their winning streak, the Lightning jumped out to a large lead and rolled from there. The Lightning led 33-13 after the first quarter and 65-40 at the half.

London’s Mo Bolden led all scorers with 25 points. The ball movement of the Lightning helped them to shoot 52.3 per cent from the field.

The Lightning have played more games than any other team in the NBL of Canada and will get a bit of a rest, as they will be off until March 7 when they host the Halifax Hurricanes.

Fanshawe women’s basketball team finishes a season for the history books

From being ranked No. 1 in the country to setting all kinds of team records, the Fanshawe Falcons women’s basketball team wrapped up their 2018-19 season on Feb. 16 with a 74-57 victory over the Niagara Knights. The team lost just once and set several new Fanshawe women’s basketball single-season team records, including wins (19), points scored (1627), field goal percentage (42.7), free throw percentage (70.3), made field goals (646), made three-pointers (143), assists (425) and rebounds (1030). They will meet the 2-15 Centennial Colts on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. at the Glenn Johnston Athletic Centre.

The Falcons men’s basketball team finished the year 13-7 and will be on the road for a crossover playoff game on Feb. 23 against the Durham Lords.

Fanshawe’s women’s and men’s curling teams also earned double gold at the OCAA curling championships. The Falcons have already set a record for most provincial championships in a single year with more opportunities still to come.

Fanshawe men’s volleyball team off to good start at provincials

The Fanshawe Falcons men’s volleyball team started the OCAA championship weekend the way they spent their entire regular season: they won. Fanshawe defeated Conestoga in straight sets 3-0 in a quarterfinal match. The Falcons men’s side went 18-0 during 2018-19 and entered provincials as the favourites. They lost just two sets all season and are currently ranked No. 1 in the country. They will meet the No. 14 team, Redeemer, on Friday night at 6 p.m. in a semifinal.

The women’s team lost just six sets and sit at No. 5 in the national rankings. They also went 18-0 during the regular season and will play a quarterfinal match on Friday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. against Mohawk at Cambrian College.

Mustang hockey teams both grab Game 1

The Western Mustang men’s hockey team did something on Wednesday night that no OUA team managed to do at all in Round 1 of this year’s OUA playoffs — they won a game against a higher seed. Western went to Brock and staged a third-period comeback to beat the Badgers 3-2 to open their best-of-three second-round series. Kyle Petit and Cordell James scored goals one minute and 50 seconds apart with just over five minutes remaining to put the Mustangs ahead. Game 2 will be played at Thompson Arena on Friday, Feb. 23.

Two goals that came 23 seconds apart in the first period gave the Western Mustang women’s hockey team an early lead, and they held on to beat Waterloo 3-2 to open the OUA playoffs. Beatrice Arsenault scored what ended up being the game-winner in the second period, and Carmen Lasis made 20 saves in net for the victory. Game 2 will be in Waterloo on Saturday, Feb. 23.

The Mustang men’s basketball team will play the Brock Badgers in an OUA quarterfinal on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. at Alumni Hall.

GOJHL heading into final games of regular season

The Leamington Flyers need one win in their final two games to clinch first place in the Western Conference. The London Nationals suffered a tough loss on Wednesday when London Knights prospect Sean McGurn scored twice in a 2-1 loss to the St. Thomas Stars. St. Thomas and Strathroy have grabbed the final two playoff spots. The St. Marys Lincolns will miss the post-season for the second consecutive year.