It was a less-than-festive end to the Christmas break for the University of Victoria Vikes basketball teams Friday night on Ken and Kathy Shields Court in the CARSA Performance Gym.
The University of Regina Cougars moved to 8-3 and dropped UVic to 4-7 in the sa国际传媒 West men鈥檚 standings with a dramatic final-shot 82-79 victory over the Vikes, whose flagging season may have taken another blow when best-player Mason Loewen left the game in the second half with what appeared to be a knee injury.
Meanwhile, the women鈥檚 Vikes found out just how great the chasm is between the U Sports elite in women鈥檚 hoops and where they stand as the U Sports top-10 Regina Cougars (9-2) easily dispatched UVic 85-50 in sa国际传媒 West play.
鈥淯Vic is talented offensively, so I thought it was our best defensive effort of the year, mentally,鈥� said Regina women鈥檚 team head coach Dave Taylor.
Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair was not happy with her team鈥檚 effort.
鈥淲e laid down and died. I don鈥檛 know what it is,鈥� said Sinclair.
鈥淲e need to force them [Cougars] to play well in our own gym and we didn鈥檛 do that tonight. We didn鈥檛 play hard enough. We turned the ball over too much.鈥�
When the Vikes (6-5) did retain possession, the result wasn鈥檛 so good, either.
鈥淲e settled for tough shots. We were too deep and too off balance,鈥� said Sinclair.
Taylor is in his 26th season on the Regina bench, the last 13 as head coach. The Cougars have played in four national championship games, three with Taylor as bench boss, but are still looking for their first national title while their great provincial rival University of Saskatchewan Huskies, coached by Canadian Olympic team head coach Lisa Thomaidis, won their first national title in 2016.
Regina hosted the 2018 national U Sports tournament and thought that might be the moment.
But the second-ranked Cougars were upended by the Huskies 74-71 in the national semifinals as Saskatchewan went onto the championship game, which was won by the Carleton Ravens for their first Canadian women鈥檚 hoops title.
Once you鈥檙e winning, you attract good players and it鈥檚 easier to recruit, noted Taylor.
鈥淚 live in fear of sliding,鈥� he said.
Macaela Crone led Regina with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Amira Giannattasio and Ashlyn Day scored 10 points each for UVic.
The Vikes and Cougars squads meet again today in CARSA Gym, with the women鈥檚 game at 5 p.m. and men鈥檚 at 7 p.m.
