Wolves split Toronto swing as Taryn Mitchell makes personal history

The Algonquin Wolves women’s basketball team split their Toronto road trip with a win and a loss, returning home with flashes of promise and a lesson in late-game pressure.

The Wolves opened the trip on Nov. 22 against the George Brown Huskies, coming out quick behind freshman Meaghan McNamara, who hit two early threes and grabbed four rebounds in the opening five minutes. But George Brown’s high-powered duo of Corrynn Parker and Jayme Foreman responded with 10 points each in the first quarter, keeping the game tight.

The Wolves still held a 24–22 advantage after a late jumper from Cianah Miller, and they built on that momentum with a 6–0 run to open the second quarter. Taryn Mitchell, who finished with 23 points, controlled the pace early in the frame with two baskets and two assists, pushing the lead to 30–22 at the five-minute mark.

“I’m just trying to do my best to lead us in any way I can,” Mitchell said. “We play hard at all times, win or lose. That’s what makes us great.”

George Brown answered with an 8–0 run of its own, but baskets from Abby Couture and McNamara steadied the offence, sending the Wolves into halftime, up 34–30.

Mitchell added seven more points in the third quarter as Algonquin built a seven-point lead heading into the fourth. But George Brown’s pressure intensified, and Parker took over, scoring eight of her game-high 26 points in the final frame. Her driving layup with 1.6 seconds remaining gave the Huskies their first and only lead of the game, 66-65.

Despite the loss, head coach Jaime McLean said he saw encouraging signs throughout the first three quarters.

“These girls are battling hard for each other right now, and that is so key in team development,” he said. “The little moments today where we fell apart weren’t because one person wasn’t doing their job; It was that we all fell apart. But then the next time something happened where one person didn’t do their job, everybody was there to pick it up.”

Nov. 24 brought new energy for the Wolves, as they closed out their weekend road trip with one of their strongest performances of the season, rallying late before shutting out the Centennial Colts 10–0 in overtime to take an 87–77 win.

The victory was powered by Mitchell’s first-ever triple-double, a 30-point effort that came in a game where she had to adjust her style to stay on the floor.

McLean said Mitchell’s leadership was just as important as the stat line.

“She recognized she wasn’t going to get it done the way she normally does defensively,” McLean said. “She chose a different way to play the game. She still got steals, still got in the way, but wasn’t getting in foul trouble. She adapted and found other things to do.”

Mitchell said the performance didn’t sink in until after the final buzzer.

“It’s so surreal to me,” she said. “It was a tough team and a tough game, so I just went out and did what I could. It’s not a one-person game. I had the team around me to get those assists, those rebounds, those points. I appreciate them for that.”

With several Wolves in foul trouble early, Algonquin leaned on its depth throughout the night, especially with rookie Naya Nicholson. Nicholson finished with 12 points, but McLean said her impact came from the defensive plays that don’t show up on a score sheet.

“She had a phenomenal game doing all the little things,” he said. “She took three charges in big moments. For a kid who hasn’t been playing a lot to step in and do that is awesome.”

Centennial held control late in the fourth quarter before Algonquin’s defensive urgency kicked in. The Wolves cleaned up their rebounding, tightened rotations and finally found a rhythm in transition.

Mitchell said the group reached a point where they’d had enough.

“We’ve been suffering a couple of losses this season, and nobody likes to lose,” she said. “Going into overtime was what we needed to realize we weren’t playing the way we should have. We switched gears and showed people what the game should have looked like from the beginning.”

That shift carried into overtime, where Algonquin dominated every possession, turning defensive stops into quick scores while keeping Centennial off the board entirely.

“We told them going into overtime that we had to own the defensive end,” McLean said. “We had to get stops, have each other’s backs, box out and run. We executed perfectly.”

Mitchell said stepping into a leadership role has become a key part of her presence on the court.

“If anyone hangs their head, I want to be the one to pick them up and get momentum back our way,” she said. “That’s the biggest thing I want to contribute.”

The Wolves now return home for their final game before the winter break, hosting Seneca on Nov. 28, 6 p.m. at the Jack Doyle Athletics and Recreation Centre.