VICTORIA - The University of Victoria Vikes women's basketball team return home after a weekend sweep of the UNBC Timberwolves to host the 1-13 Mount Royal Cougars, Jan. 24-25 at McKinnon Gym. The Vikes are currently in a tie with UBC for second-place in the Pacific Division, while the Cougars sit at the bottom of the heap in conference standings after losing their previous ten matches.
 
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The Vikes offence that faltered in back-to-back losses to Saskatchewan and Alberta, Jan. 10-11, bounced back against the Timberwolves, propelling the Vikes to 79-69 and 67-54 victories, Jan. 17 and 18, respectively.
 
Four Vikes entered double-digits in scoring against UNBC, with fourth-year Cassandra Goodis leading her squad with 16 points and five rebounds in the first match up. Goodis was assisted on offence by team-scoring leader Jessica Renfrew, along with Sarah Semeniuk and Jenny Lewis, who came off the bench to put up 11 points in just 18 minutes of play.
 
Saturday's rematch saw Vikes Shaylyn Crisp and Jenna Bugiardini lead the way in scoring with 14 points apiece. Semeniuk rounded out the top-3 scorers on offence with nine points. The six-foot-three forward continues to lead the Vikes in rebounds, currently averaging 6.9 per-game.
 
The Cougars have had a season to forget in head coach Lee Harvey's first year at the helm of the women's program, having lost 10-straight matches following their only victory this season over UBC-Okanagan. The Cougars feature just four returning players from their 2012-13 season. Second-year forward Jordan Maclean, fifth-year guard Nikki Golding, fifth-year forward Carrie Campbell and fourth-year guard Danica Rybachuk.
 
Maclean leads her squad in both points scored and rebounds, posting an average of 13.3 points-per game along with 10.8 rebounds. Rookie point-guard Alicia Tan and Rybachuk are second and third in points scored on the team with 10.9 and 9.6 points per-game, respectively.
 
The Vikes and Cougars will meet at McKinnon Gymnasium for a two-game series, Jan. 24 and 25 at 6:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., respectively. Both games will be broadcast with live video and stats on canadawest.tv.