The UVic Vikes knew the situation going in.
Desperately in need of wins and with just two weekends left in regular-season sa国际传媒 West basketball play, coach Craig Beaucamp鈥檚 troops have fallen by the wayside and will now need some help to secure a playoff berth.
The Vikes fell to 7-11 due to a sweep at the hands of the host Regina Cougars, who followed up Friday鈥檚 victory with a 91-82 triumph on Saturday.
Victoria, which has this coming week off as a bye, will cap its 2015-16 campaign with a weekend set at home at CARSA performance gym Feb. 19-20 against a weak Brandon Bobcats team.
The problem is, the Vikes sit eighth with just seven spots reserved for post-season play.
The Alberta Golden Bears won both their weekend games over Trinity Western to improve to 9-8, now four points up with two games remaining against ninth-place Saskatchewan before ending their season with one more against the strong Calgary Dinos.
Winnipeg and Lethbridge are both 9-7 after tough weekend losses against solid sa国际传媒 West clubs Manitoba and Calgary.
鈥淲e鈥檙e scoreboard watching now,鈥� said Beaucamp, who was happy with his team鈥檚 effort, especially from the young players. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e never happy to lose, but I thought the kids played hard. The young kids stepped up their play.鈥�
Victoria was just 14-of-27 from the free-throw line and that was costly.
鈥淲e missed 13 free throws in what was a four-point game in the last two minutes,鈥� said Beaucamp, whose team was forced to foul late, which made it a nine-point difference.
Grant Sitton had 15 points for Victoria, while Jonathan Hull had 24 for Regina.
On the women鈥檚 side, the Vikes were in tough all weekend against the No. 3 team in the country.
Another valiant effort fell short as Victoria (now 7-11) dropped an 84-73 decision to the Cougars (15-1), clawing back from a 48-35 halftime deficit to cut it to within two points at one stage in the third quarter. Trailing 61-54 going into the fourth, Regina pulled it out again.
A very deep Cougars鈥� club received double-digit performances from Kehlsie Crone (19 points), Alyssia Kajati (19), Katie Polischuk (13) and Charlotte Kot (10).
Nicole Karstein was strong for the Vikes for the second straight night, giving the Cougars fits inside the paint with 20 points (after 23 on Friday) while Jenna Bugiardini finished with an even stronger game-high 22 on Saturday. Kristy Gallagher and Amira Giannattasio had 17 and 10, respectively.
The Vikes remain in a playoff spot.
