Coach Dani Sinclair鈥檚 UVic Vikes women鈥檚 basketball team recorded its first win at home in the regular-season on Friday night, but it wasn鈥檛 easy as the hosts managed to scratch out a 73-64 victory over the winless Manitoba Bisons at CARSA performance gym.
Riding Nicole Karstein鈥檚 hot hand early, the Vikes jumped out to 11-2 and 17-8 advantages early, but got away from what was successful for the last four minutes of the opening quarter and more than the first half of the second.
It didn鈥檛 sit well with Sinclair or leader Jenna Bugiardini, who came alive for a game-high 28 points and 15 rebounds. Karstein finished with 16 points, but was in foul trouble late and fouled out with 4:24 to go.
鈥淚 feel a little better, a little less stressed right now,鈥� Bugiardini said as she walked off the floor.
鈥淚t was back and forth. They made us fight for it. Cheers to them for doing that, but we have to be cleaner, take care of rebounds and take care of the ball better [today].
鈥淭hat was us not getting stops on defence and not capitalizing on the offensive end,鈥� she said of the lapses. 鈥淲e were successful inside, then went away from it a little bit. So [today], we鈥檒l go to that right away.鈥�
The now 6-3 Vikes men, meanwhile, opened up a huge 17-2 lead but required overtime to beat 6-3 Manitoba 85-77 in overtime, with Grant Sitton (28 points) and Mack Roth (20) leading the way.
As for the now 4-6 women, coach Sinclair got her message across loud and clear.
鈥淚 thought our decision making was not great. We took a lot of contested shots and went away from what was working for us,鈥� she said. 鈥淛enna and Nicole were working for us and we, for periods of time, stopped going to them.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we played as a team offensively and defensively. I didn鈥檛 think we played with a lot of grit for any length of time.
鈥淲e stopped going to our strengths and stopped playing with any type of energy,鈥� she stressed. 鈥淵ou have an opportunity to play for this team, you better bring some passion.
鈥淥therwise, you鈥檙e not going to get a lot of chances. We need more consistent play and effort from everybody else.鈥�
The Vikes led 29-25 at the half and 53-41 after three quarters, but the 0-9 Bisons did cut it to three in the waning minutes.
The women have won three straight regular-season games and six consecutive if you include tournament play over the Christmas break.
The teams play again tonight with the women hitting the floor at 5 p.m. and men at 7 at CARSA.
FREE THROWS: In a clarification of a previous story, Vikes women鈥檚 2016-17 recruit Calli McMillan-Beaucamp is the step-daughter of men鈥檚 basketball head coach Craig Beaucamp and daughter of former Vikes basketball alumnus Danny McMillan.
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