CALGARY – With both teams holding an 11-5 record, the University of Victoria Vikes were the ones who improved to 12-5 after defeating the Calgary Dinos 58-54 at Jack Simpson Gym on Jan. 31.

BOX SCORE
 
Now secured for the post-season, fourth-year Vike Jessica Renfrew led the team with a game-high 22 points. Second year Jenna Bugiardini added 13 more for Victoria, while point guard Cassandra Goodis recorded eight points and eight rebounds.
 
Tamara Jarrett was once again the leading sorer for hostsCalgary finishing with 12 points. Jarrett was the only player on the floor to record a double-double, adding 11 rebounds. Both Kristie Shiels and Ashley Hirons scored 10 points each while Jessica Thielen recorded eight points and nine rebounds.
 
"The game was a good team win for us," said Dani Sinclair, Vikes women's basketball head coach. "We had a lot of things that could have deterred us but we battled hard to pull off a close win. We knew we had to contain them and did a good job holding them to 52 points."
 
The Vikes took the lead from the get-go, going up 7-5. Sloppy play from both teams as they tried to find their ground produced a number of turnovers on both ends of the court. Bugiardini sunk a three-pointer to push her point total to seven early in the game.
 
At an 11-10 stalemate, it took until the last minute left in the opening quarter for the Vikes to get on the board again, going up 14-10. Two turnovers cost the Dinos six more points as Victoria headed into the second up 20-13.
 
With Renfrew logging eleven points already in the game, the Dinos were forced to keep a close watch on the experienced forward, but to no avail as the Vikes lead got broke to ten points. Calgary had already recorded 12 turnovers due to the hard working defence put on by the Vikes.
 
Half way through the second, Calgary turned their game around, going on a 5-0 run, forcing Victoria to call a timeout at 25-18. With Hirons and Jarrett finding their shooting fire, the Dinos' run continued, closing the gap and tying the game up at 25 after a 14-0 run. The home side took their first lead of the game with a bucket from Jarrett and shut finally down the Vikes on offence.
 
Halftime ended 31-26 in favour of Calgary as Victoria was held to only six points in the second quarter.
 
In the third, the Dinos held their lead and extended it to eight at 40-32 before a lull in scoring for both sides occurred. Slowly, the Vikes began to creep up on Calgary's lead in the final minutes of the quarter. Turnover troubles began to haunt the Dinos and their lead diminished to just one point at the end of the third with a score of 43-42, setting up an entertaining final quarter finish.
 
Both teams battled from start to finish of the final frame. A quick four points from Aimee Wilson off the bench pushed Calgary's lead back up to five at 49-44. The lead didn't last though as Victoria pulled out two back-to-back three pointers to take their first lead since the second quarter.
 
Without any scoring for a solid two minutes, head coach Damian Jennings called a timeout. The visitors weren't phased and from there, the Vikes went on a 5-0 run to earn a six-point lead with less than three minutes left in the game.
 
Thielen stopped the run with a jumper to put Calgary within four, but it wasn't enough as time ran out on the Dinos before they could regain the lead once again. The Vikes prevailed, winning 58-54.
 
"Cassandra did a great job distributing the ball tonight and Shaylyn Crisp was a force on defence the entire game," added Sinclair. "Alli Mulock also came in and played some huge minutes off the bench for us."
 
The Vikes will now travel to face Lethbridge on Feb. 1 at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast live at canadawest.tv.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
CGY: 13-18-12-11 : 54
VIC: 20-6-16-16 : 58
 
SCORING LEADERS
CGY: Tamara Jarrett (12), Kristie Sheils (10), Ashley Hirons 10)
VIC: Jessica Renfrew (22), Jenna Bugiardini (13), Cassandra Goodis (8)