It was Christin Dickenson's first return to her old school while wearing Guelph colours.

Colour her black and blue postgame after her Gryphons got schooled.

McMaster bloodied the noses of the young Gryphon women early and blew them off the Arthur Burridge hard court Wednesday night in an 84-52 basketball bvictory.

With the win, McMaster improved to 7-2. Dickenson's crew slipped to 3-6.

The Gryphons had no answer for the McMaster dynamic duo. Hailey Milligan finished with 24 points. And Danielle Boiago dominated her old St. Thomas More teammate and close friend Dana Van Balkom by ripping off 14 points.

Guelph shot just 26 per cent. Ouch.

Dickenson admitted she was disappointed with her squad's performance. Mac was physical and the Guelph gals didn't fight back.

"A big part of what Mac does is they don't take any (crap). That's how you equalize them by bringing the physicality and getting them in a tough, scrappy game. And we didn't come out that way, they had a 31-point first quarter, and that's tough to come back from. I don't think we were ready to fight," she said.

The game started with a frenetic pace. But Boiago hoisted a trey and that seemed to spark her teammates. Six minutes in it was Mac 15-6 and Dickenson called a timeout to talk about it.

Two minutes later Dickenson was assessed a technical foul for arguing a foul call.

Then the Mac bench joined the fun. Rookie Lexi Spadafora hit, then Clare Kenney, then Boiago banged a three. All the while Milligan sat on the bench.

Milligan returned for the second quarter. After schooling Guelph's second-year Vanessa Rampado in the first quarter, Milligan dominated Gryphons' Julia Tennant in the second. Any more of this and Dickenson, the former five-year Marauder star, was likely to reappear in uniform in the second half to take on Mac's 6-foot-3, fifth-year post herself. Rampado spelled off Tennant. Milligan looked like an instructor as she continued to tutor the Guelph missus.

McMaster took a 45-22 lead into intermission. Milligan had 16 points in just 14 minutes. Guelph shot just 21 per cent from the floor in the first half, compared to 55 per cent by the hosts.

In the second half Milligan just pushed Guelph's McTavish out of her way en route to the hoop. Mac led 69-43 after three as the maroons emptied the bench.

Both Spadafora, eight points and six rebounds, and Kenney, 12 points, enjoyed strong outings. But Jackie Nimec, held to just five points, continues to struggle offensively.

Mac head coach Theresa Burns said she wanted her crew to get all over the young Guelph team early.

"We wanted a quick start and establish a defensive presence right from the get-go. I thought we executed on defensive to a T," she said.

And Burns liked the presence of Kenney.

"I'm so proud of Clare. That was a breakthrough game for her. That's something we have thought she is capable of doing and she did it because she stuck to certain details tonight. She has a ton of potential, I'm so proud of what she did tonight," Burns said.

The contest was Mac's final appearance at the Burridge Gym before the December holiday break. McMaster completes the first half of the conference schedule with a Saturday visit to Western.

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Crusaders golden

Belated congratulations to Nate McGibbon and his St. Mary's Crusaders girls' senior basketball team that won the OFSAA gold medal in London, Ont. over the weekend. St. Mary's did not lose a game in winning their fourth straight provincial championships (third straight AAA crown).

St. Mary's dominated as did St. Thomas More in winning the Quad A title. With both schools featuring strong junior squads might as well just stencil the school names on the trophies for 2014.