The University of Victoria Vikes got an early wake-up call Friday at CARSA gym.
That鈥檚 all they needed to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three first-round sa国际传媒 West women鈥檚 basketball playoff series with a 67-54 victory over the MacEwan University Griffins of Edmonton on Ken and Kathy Shields Court.
MacEwan took it right at UVic to start, building up an 18-7 lead before the Vikes began their own surge to take a 35-29 lead into the half-time break.
鈥淲e were not on our game to start. It took us a little bit to get our feet moving and get some stops on defence,鈥� said Vikes post player Nicole Karstein.
UVic has a noticeable size advantage and began using it, pounding the ball inside to forwards Karstein and Jenna Bugiardini, who scored 20 and 14 points, respectively.
鈥淸MacEwan] definitely hit their shots to start. We need to keep responding through the weekend like we did [Friday],鈥� said Bugiardini.
鈥淣icole did a great job getting inside.鈥�
UVic coach Dani Sinclair was pleased to see no panic descend after the early deficit: 鈥淲e did a good job of not getting too deflated because of our slow start. We played good defence to get back into the game. It was a gritty, ugly, playoff type of win.鈥�
Kendall Lydon led MacEwan with 12 points.
The matchup pits the sixth-seed Vikes (12-8 in conference in regular season) against the 11th-seed Griffins (7-13) and continues tonight at 7 in CARSA. A third game, if needed, will be Sunday afternoon at 1.
The Vikes swept both regular season meetings between the teams in Edmonton.
MacEwan eliminated UVic in the second round of last year鈥檚 playoffs in Edmonton but lost four starters to graduation.
Meanwhile, the host Lethbridge Pronghorns defeated the UVic Vikes men鈥檚 team 97-85 in the first game of their best-of-three opening round sa国际传媒 West playoff series. Grant Sitton and Taylor Montgomery-Stinson had 14 points each for UVic and Scott Kellum 12.
The second game is tonight and third game, if necessary, on Sunday afternoon in southern Alberta.
The Vikes were 9-11 in conference in the regular season and the sa国际传媒 West 10th seed, while Lethbridge was 13-7 and the fifth seed. The Pronghorns swept both regular-season meetings.
