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As a host, Lethbridge has earned a reputation over the years as being the sa国际传媒 West basketball equivalent of old-school junior hockey Flin Flon or the NFL Raiders鈥� Black Hole in Oakland.
In good years or bad for the Pronghorns, it鈥檚 always a challenge going in there for opposing teams.
The University of Victoria was again reminded of that as Lethbridge swept the Vikes in their two-game men鈥檚 conference set, with the Pronghorns capping it with an 81-74 victory on Saturday night.
The Vikes trailed 26-24 after one quarter, 43-39 at the half and 61-59 after three quarters and couldn鈥檛 quite handle the high-scoring 鈥橦orns.
The Vikes, which began sa国际传媒 West play with five consecutive wins, have now lost three straight to fall to 5-3. The Pronghorns moved to 5-1.
Meanwhile, being in southern Alberta didn鈥檛 seem to bother the UVic Vikes women as they swept Lethbridge, completing the feat with an 85-55 victory Saturday to move to 3-5 in conference. Of course, it didn鈥檛 hurt that this season鈥檚 edition of the Pronghorns is winless and fell to 0-6.
鈥淭his is always a tough place to play and the 鈥橦orns always go hard here. But I thought we responded well,鈥� said Vikes coach Dani Sinclair.
鈥淭hese were important wins for us to feel strong going into the break.鈥�
Sophomore shooting-guard Amira Giannattasio lit up the 鈥橦orns for 26 points while forward Jenn Bugiardini put up her second double-double of the weekend with 18 points and 15 boards.
鈥淛enn [Bugiardini] willed herself on the game. She is a blue-collar player and got back to that style,鈥� said Sinclair.
The games concluded the pre-Christmas portions of both the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 sa国际传媒 West schedules.
