VICTORIA – With just seven players, the University of Victoria Vikes played with passion and heart, overcoming the short-bench obstacle to smash the Lethbridge Pronghorns, 63-44, at McKinnon Gymnasium on Jan. 22.

With the win, the Vikes improve to 13-5, while the Pronghorns fall to 4-14.

BOX SCORE

Shifted to the point guard position, rookie #Cassandra Goodis# had a career-high and game-high 16 points along with nine steals and five assists to lead the Vikes and earn White Spot Vikes player-of-the-game honours.

"She has ice in her veins," said Vikes women's basketball head coach Brian Cheng. "She has a tremendous feel for the game and is tremendously saavy."

"We made a cautious move to put her at the point and she showed poise beyond her years."

Goodis, from Penticton, B.C., said she was really happy with the improved "passion" from the whole UVic team.

"We played with passion and it finally showed tonight," Goodis said. "We did not play up to our potential yesterday (Jan. 21's 65-61 win over Lethbridge). We held their #5 (Becky Heninger) to only two points."

A night earlier, the Pronghorns fourth-year point guard put up 30 points on the Vikes. But on Saturday Jan. 22, Lethbridge had an eight-point, 15-rebound showing from freshman Kimberley Veldman but no players registered in double-digits in any other statistical category. Credit the Vikes defence.
 
"We've only got seven...we had to step up tonight," Goodis said. "We just had to work hard."

With fewer players to insert into game action, Cheng said there was no change in game-plan, just improved execution.

"I reminisced about the last banner we won and we only had about seven and a half players in our rotation. And I'm not saying this is necessarily a national championship team, but they can be," Cheng said. "Our kids have some tough skin. We watched some video (today) that was perhaps embarassing. And they were women enough to take it, and good enough people to learn from it and they showed their response tonight."

#Sarah Semeniuk# accounted for most of the VIkes rebounding, with 17 boards including eight on the offensive glass. #Deborah Yeboah# also scored 10 first-half points for UVic to finish with 15, while #Carmen Lapthorne# netted 12 points to go along with three steals and three assists.

"They outrebounded us, but talk about an individual performance," Cheng said of Semeniuk's heart in the paint. "If she wasn't in foul trouble, she'd have rebounded even more."

The Vikes scored 29 points off 31 Pronghorns turnovers and played with new-found defensive intensity, despite the absence of their three fifth-year seniors #Kayla Dykstra#, #Vanessa Forstbauer# and #Jane Anholt#.

After having a 30-point performance the night before, Pronghorns guard Becky Heninger was held to just two points on 1-for-13 shooting. Lethbridge did not make any three-pointers on the evening, and they were held to 28-per-cent shooting overall on 53 attempts.

The Vikes scored 34 points in the paint, thanks in large part to Semeniuk's offensive-rebounding prowess.

UVic led 29-18 after the opening half, and continued strong defensive play in the second frame, outscoring the Pronghorns 21-11 in the third quarter en route to victory.

UVic's next games are in Brandon on Jan. 28 and 29, with a trip the following weekend to play Thompson Rivers in Kamloops, B.C. The VIkes then enjoy a weekend off before hosting UBC Feb. 18-19 in their final homestand of the regular season.

"We can play hard and can earn victories," Cheng said. "We have to bank as many wins as we can - we cannot wait and see what other teams are going to do."