The conference No. 6 UVic women鈥檚 hoops squad (12-8) knows it will open and close its post-season on Ken and Kathy Shields Court inside CARSA. The former is tonight and Saturday, and if necessary Sunday, in the best-of-three opening-round series against the No. 11 MacEwan University Griffins of Edmonton (7-13).
The latter is when the Vikes are guaranteed a berth as host into the U Sports national women鈥檚 basketball championship being staged in CARSA from March 9-12.
UVic would like to get there on its merits, and not back-in as the automatic host entry. First up in that journey is a Griffins team that UVic swept in its two-game set in November.
鈥淲e won both games but they gave us trouble,鈥� said Vikes coach Dani Sinclair.
MacEwan is undersized but noted for its guard play, led by fifth-year player Kendall Lydon, who was sixth in sa国际传媒 West scoring with a 16.3 points-per-game average.
鈥淲e have to take advantage of our size,鈥� said Sinclair.
There is also the issue that MacEwan won its do-or-die last regular-season game 64-59 against the Calgary Dinos, while the Vikes head into the playoffs on a three-game slide, although the last two losses were against the sa国际传媒 West regular-season champion and U Sports national seventh-ranked Winnipeg Wesmen (18-2).
鈥淭here鈥檚 a bit of frustration with that, and we want to get back to our winning ways,鈥� said Sinclair.
In a sidebar to the series, the Griffins eliminated the Vikes last year in the second round of the playoffs. But this year鈥檚 series is in CARSA, not Edmonton, and Vikes stars Jenna Bugiardini and Amira Giannattasio are yet a year better. The senior Bugiardini led sa国际传媒 West in rebounding this season with a 10.0 per-game average while the gunner Giannattasio was second in sa国际传媒 West in three-point shooting at 42.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the Vikes men (9-11) are the sa国际传媒 West 10th seed and in Lethbridge to take on the No. 5 Pronghorns (13-7) in their best-of-three opening-round series tonight, Saturday, and if necessary, Sunday.
The Pronghorns swept the Vikes 76-58 and 94-81 in their two-game regular-season set late last month at CARSA.
The Vikes needed to sweep a very good Winnipeg team in their final regular-season set last weekend in CARSA to make the playoffs. UVic did so with a pulse-racing, knee-knocking late-game victory last Saturday with a truly clutch performance in the waning moments by lone Vikes senior Grant Sitton to close out the regular season and advance.
This young Vikes team, in future years, may well look back on that on-the-brink moment as being the building block for the program鈥檚 resurgence. Not that they have conceded anything in the here and now this weekend to the Pronghorns.
鈥淭his is a different season. Everyone is 0-0,鈥� said UVic coach Craig Beaucamp.
鈥淭here is no pressure on us. Every year, in any league, there is that upset team that surprises everybody and overachieves in the playoffs and has a big run. Why not us?鈥�
