The first weekend of sa国际传媒 West basketball was a variety pack with a bit of everything in road splits for the University of Victoria Vikes men’s and women’s teams. There was a triple-digit scoring game for the men and overtime, comebacks and a last-shot regulation-time win at the buzzer for the women.
The home openers are tonight and Saturday in the first regular season sa国际传媒 West games at CARSA gym in 20 months as the Vikes take on their UBC-Okanagan counterparts.
“Hopefully, it settles down because I don’t know if my heart can take it,” quipped coach Carrie Watts. Her women’s Vikes followed their opening 73-66 overtime loss to Trinity Western in Langley by overcoming a 12-0 deficit to start the game in a 74-72 victory over the UBC Thunderbirds on a buzzer-beater by Tana Pankratz. The sophomore from Abbotsford, Pankratz, continues coming into her own and finished with 26 points while veteran Ashlyn Day added 28.
“We dug ourselves a hole, fell behind by 12 and 16 points, but showed tremendous spirit and determination to battle back in a big rivalry game,” said Watts.
“It was a good lesson that the game is never over. It was a big confidence boost.”
For the rookie head coach as well. Former UBC star and national team player Watts returned to War Memorial Gym, where she served as Thunderbirds assistant coach to Olympian Deb Huband from 2007 to 2020, before being overlooked for the UBC head coaching position upon Huband’s retirement.
“It was a memorable win that I will never forget, that’s for sure,” said Watts, whose Vikes were ranked No. 7 among the 17 sa国际传媒 West teams in the coaches preseason poll.
UBC-Okanagan is also 1-1 after opening with a 71-67 loss at Fraser Valley followed by an 87-68 victory at Thompson Rivers.
“UBC-O is an athletic group that rebounds well,” said Watts.
The UVic men, ranked No. 3 in the preseason sa国际传媒 West coaches poll, defeated Trinity Western 104-66 in their opener at the Langley Events Centre before losing 94-76 to UBC at War Memorial Gym.
“I thought the score was flattering for us against Trinity Western and then we didn’t play well at UBC as they cranked it up and we deserved what we got,” said Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp,
“That was a good eye-opener.”
On the plus side, UVic’s depth was on display as a wide range of players saw minutes and contributed.
“We used a lot of players,” said Beaucamp, who is clearly comfortable delving deep into his bench.
Forward Matthew Ellis is tied in the conference top five in scoring with a 21.0 points-per-game average while mercurial shooting-guard Diego Maffia has a 17.3 points-per-game average.
UBC-Okanagan is winless after losing 85-63 to Fraser Valley and 77-72 to Thompson Rivers to start its season.
“They are much better than their record,” warned Beaucamp.
Imoudu Ibrahim is top-five in conference rebounding with an average of 11 boards per game, which highlights UBC-Okangan’s strengths.
“They are a big, strong team that averages 20 offensive rebounds per night,” said Beaucamp.
“We need to look after the boards with a blue-collar, box-out mentality.”
