VICTORIA - Superstition or not, Friday the 13th did not bode well for the no. 5 ranked UVic Vikes women's basketball team. The Alberta Pandas came-from-behind to take a 75-65 decision at McKinnon Gym.
BOXSCORE
Alberta guards Maria Haylett and Nicole Clarke combined to account for over half the Pandas offense, leading all scorers with 21 and 20 points respectively. The duo teamed up for 13 of Alberta's 22 points in a decisive fourth quarter rally.
The Vikes out-shot no. 10 Alberta and had fewer turnovers, but the Pandas capitalized on their trips to the line by making 27-33 free-throws, and also won the battle of the boards with a 39-23 margin.
"They just outplayed us and outhustled us," said head coach #Brian Cheng#. "We didn't play enough sustained defence over the course of 40 minutes. We had bright moments, but moments against a top ten caliber team just isn't good enough."
#Debbie Yeboah# led the Vikes in scoring with 15 points, and the Winnipeg sophomore also made four steals. Yeboah helped the Vikes overcome a slow start by scoring seven points in the second quarter, and put her team ahead 35-32 at the half.
However, the injury-ravaged Vikes had a hard time hanging onto the lead versus the 2009 CIS bronze medalists. All-Canadian post #Kayla Dykstra# was held to six points - only the second time in two years she has been held to single digits - and the UVic lead slipped away for good at the end of the third quarter.
Alberta's Emily Bolduc ended the third quarter with a basket to put her side ahead for the first time since midway through the opening half. The Pandas lead continued to grow and they ended the game on a 12-4 run. Bolduc finished with 13 points.
Vikes forwards #Vanessa Forstbauer# and #Carmen Lapthorne# contributed 14 and 13 points, respectively. #Natalie Janssens# came off the bench to net 11 points of 5-7 shooting.
On Saturday night the Vikes will play their final home game of 2009, when McKinnon Gym hosts the Saskatchewan Huskies. The Vikes will be looking to pick up their first home win before ending the first half of the season with four road games.
