Having not played them during the sa国际传媒 West regular season, the University of Victoria Vikes women鈥檚 basketball team didn鈥檛 know quite what to expect from the University of Fraser Valley Cascades in their play-in game Friday night at CARSA gym.
So they didn鈥檛 take any chances. The Vikes came flying out of the gate and buried the Cascades early en route to a 91-62 victory in front of a boisterous crowd around Ken and Kathy Shields Court.
The win moves the Vikes into the sa国际传媒 West best-of-three quarter-finals against the Dinos next weekend at the University of Calgary.
Led by their dynamic duo of fourth-years Amira Giannattasio and Kristy Gallagher, the fifth-seeded Vikes (16-4 in regular season) stormed the 12th-ranked Cascades (8-12) early and led 25-15 at the first break.
Giannattasio poured in 10 of her game-high 33 points in the first quarter.
鈥淲e were really focused at the start of the game because we knew they had some fifth-years [seniors] and they didn鈥檛 want this to be their last game,鈥� said Giannattasio, who had three three-pointers and added 10 rebounds.
The Vikes also rode the hot hand of third-year forward Katie Langdon, who got all 14 of her points in the first half.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in a place right now where a lot of players are playing well and they know their roles and, like Katie, are thriving 鈥� and you really saw that tonight,鈥� said Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair, who saw her team cruise to its 13th straight victory overall.
鈥淔raser Valley is a good, physical team. And we talked about not allowing them to get any momentum, because they can turn it on quickly. So defensively, we were locked in and didn鈥檛 allow that to happen.鈥�
The Cascades made a serious push in the second quarter to get within five at 39-34, as big forwards Shayna Litman and Taylor Claggett started to dominate under the hoop and fifth-year senior guard Sara Simovic, out of Wellington Secondary in Nanaimo, started to find her outside shot.
But a quick timeout by Sinclair led the Vikes to finish the half on a 6-0 run and retake control.
鈥淲e snuck in the playoffs and we knew if they executed well that we might be in trouble 鈥� and they did,鈥� Cascades coach Al Tuchscherer said.
Simovic transferred from VIU and Lethbridge two years ago and finished her U Sports career with a 10-points-and-three-assists game.
Gallagher, from Sidney, finished with 19 points and eight rebounds as the Vikes now turn their attention to a trip to Calgary next weekend, where they will face another team they didn鈥檛 see in the regular season.
The UVic men were involved in a much closer play-in game, but came out on the wrong side of an 82-80 score at the hands of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in Saskatoon.
The fifth-seeded Vikes (10-10) fell behind early to the fourth-ranked Huskies (10-10), but clawed back to take the lead with 25 seconds left in regulation. Then Huskies fifth-year guard Alex Unruh went to work. In the dying seconds, Unruh drove to the hoop, made the basket and was fouled, and then made good on the free throw to give the Huskies the win.
Unruh finished with a game-high 24 points.
The Huskies move on to face Calgary next weekend. Mason Loewen and Jordan Charles had 20 points each for the Vikes.
