The University of Victoria Vikes women鈥檚 team will need to remain blast-furnace hot.
The Vikes carry the second-longest winning streak in U Sports women鈥檚 basketball into the one-game, first-round sa国际传媒 West playoff against the Fraser Valley Cascades tonight at 7 inside CARSA gym.
The Vikes have not lost a conference game since November and are undefeated in 12 sa国际传媒 West contests, which nationally is behind only the Carleton Ravens鈥� 19-game winning streak in Ontario.
Fifth-seed UVic will need to make it 13 in a row if it hopes to advance to meet the No. 4 Calgary Dinos, who have a first-round bye, in next weekend鈥檚 best-of-three second round. If the Cascades win tonight, as the 12th and final playoff seed, they would advance to play the top-ranked Regina Cougars, who have a bye into the second round.
鈥淓motions will be high [tonight] because it鈥檚 do-or-die,鈥� said UVic head coach Dani Sinclair.
鈥淏ut that鈥檚 what this time of year is all about. Home court will be very important for us and we hope we get a lot of people out to back us.鈥�
Meanwhile, the UVic men are in Saskatoon tonight to meet the Saskatchewan Huskies in their one-game, opening-round sa国际传媒 West playoff. Both teams finished the regular season 10-10 in conference, but the eighth-seed Huskies got home court over the ninth-seed Vikes because of the ratings performance index (RPI) tie-breaking formula.
鈥淭here鈥檚 an advantage to the lower seed in a one-game playoff just because of the unpredictability of it,鈥� said UVic head coach Craig Beaucamp, whose team heads into the post-season on a three-game losing skid.
That logic, however, works against the Vikes women鈥檚 team tonight. There is no recourse, as in a playoff series, for a higher seed who might have an off night in being upset by a lower seed in a first game.
The Vikes (16-4) and Cascades (8-12) split a pair of pre-season games back in the fall in the Abbotsford. That is about as relevant now as the cost of a pint of beer in Berlin. So much has changed on both rosters since then, noted Sinclair.
Although the Vikes didn鈥檛 face the Cascades in the regular season, Sinclair has ample scouting information on Fraser Valley.
鈥淚t is a tough and physical team,鈥� said the UVic bench boss.
UVic counters with outside shooting stars Amira Giannattasio and Kristy Gallagher, both top-10 in conference scoring, with respective averages of 17.9 and 17.8 points per game.
That UVic must even play in this opening-round game is controversial. The Vikes actually placed fourth in the conference, in terms of record at 16-4, but were seeded fifth while Calgary was awarded the fourth seeding despite being 15-5. That鈥檚 because of sa国际传媒 West鈥檚 convoluted ranking system. The top 12 teams qualify for the playoffs. They are then ranked 1 through 12 based on each team鈥檚 RPI standing in order to account for the various strengths of schedules faced by each team. That was costly to UVic on many levels. Not only did it deny the Vikes a first-round bye, but also home-court advantage in the second round.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the difference between Calgary coming here, or us going to Calgary [for the second round should UVic win tonight],鈥� said Sinclair.
Sinclair described the system as 鈥渂izarre鈥� but has no option but to make the best of it.
鈥淲e would have been sitting for two weeks without playing. So in that regard I don鈥檛 mind playing in the first round and keep rolling,鈥� she said.
The Vikes men鈥檚 team, meanwhile, has the confidence of knowing it swept the Huskies 87-77 and 83-76 in the regular season. But both those games were played in CARSA gym. UVic is on the road tonight in Saskatoon and must contend with Lawrence Moore, the Huskies star from Chicago, who put up a combined 67 points in a regular-season split last weekend against the Regina Cougars. Moore finished second in sa国际传媒 West scoring this season with a 24.0 points-per-game average, just behind leader Justus Alleyn of the Manitoba Bisons (24.1).
鈥淲e know [Moore] will get his points, but we can鈥檛 let two or three other guys do the same,鈥� said UVic coach Beaucamp, stressing the importance he is placing on defence tonight.
