The sounds of 鈥淎haamiiira鈥� on the PA, after baskets by the third all-time leading scorer in University of Victoria Vikes women鈥檚 basketball history, rang off the walls of CARSA gym for the final time Friday night.
Guard Amira Giannattasio scored 26 points in her final appearance on Ken and Kathy Shields Court in leading the Vikes to an 80-61 sa国际传媒 West playoff victory over the Fraser Valley Cascades. The Vikes are assured to be on the road for the rest of the playoffs, beginning next week in the best-of-three quarter-finals against an opponent that was not known by press time.
鈥淚t was pretty emotional. I鈥檓 glad to end on a win at home,鈥� said Giannattasio, whose 1,539 career points for the Vikes are behind only two-time Olympian Carol Turney-Loos (1,646) and former Belmont star Lisa Koop (1,660).
鈥淲e knew it was a one-game playoff and there was no Saturday night to come back to 鈥� but we stayed calm and relaxed.鈥�
Giannattasio said it still hasn鈥檛 sunk in that she has played her final game inside Ring Road.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still in the midst of the playoffs, so it will probably hit me when it鈥檚 all done,鈥� said the native of Hamilton, Ont.
鈥淚鈥檒l think back to all the teammates that kept me going over five seasons and got me my looks [at the basket].鈥�
The conference seventh-seed Vikes鈥� ball-hawking defence a key to victory against the 10th-seed Cascades.
鈥淲e got a lot of points off steals and offensive rebounds,鈥� said Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair.
Haily Weaver was especially rugged on defence for the Vikes, hounding Cascades star Taylor Claggett all night. Claggett had 16 points but Weaver held her to 50 per cent from the field.
Offensively, Morgan Roskelley provided an important 15 points of secondary scoring for UVic and Calli McMillan 12.
鈥淸Roskelley] was huge tonight. We know they are going to key on Amira, so we have to get scoring from other people,鈥� said Sinclair.
鈥淪tarting [next season], we are not going to get 26 points a night from Amira. But hopefully we have a lot more time left with her through the post-season.鈥�
MEN鈥橲 PLAYOFFS: Just as they did in their two regular-season meetings, the Lethbridge Pronghorns ripped the UVic Vikes in their first-round, single-game playoff Friday in southern Alberta.
The conference seventh-seed Pronghorns, the highest scoring team in sa国际传媒 West, defeated the Vikes 98-65.
Jake Newman and Jordan Charles closed out their Vikes careers with 16 points each while fellow-graduating Mason Loewen ended with seven points. Third-year Vikes guard Scott Kellum scored 14 points.
