VICTORIA, B.C. – The University of Victoria Vikes women's basketball had an impressive showing for their first home game of 2015. Fifth year Jessica Renfrew hit a career-high 36 points as the Vikes dropped Winnipeg 71-48 at McKinnon Gym on Jan. 16. With the win the Vikes improve to a 5-6 record, while the Wesmen are now 6-5.
 
A midst her 36 points, Renfrew was 4-for-8 from three-point land and also logged two assists and seven rebounds. Despite Renfrew's solo performance on the score sheet, the Vikes ran a well-executed game plan as point guard Cassandra Goodis was on track with seven assists and five rebounds, and several other players contributed in different areas. Third-year Jenna Bugiardini logged a team-high nine rebounds and three assists.

"We had everyone contribute today and it was a team game because we did our job on defence," said a modest but beaming Renfrew after the game. "Dani always tells me not to think and tonight I just went with the flow and didn't think." 
 
For Winnipeg, Megan Noonan was the top scorer with 17 points and five rebounds. Taylor Thorkelsson had nine points and seven rebounds and Samantha Donald had nine points and five rebounds. The Wesmen shot 28 per cent from the field and were unable to contain the Vikes defensively.
 
It rained Renfrew in the opening quarter as the fifth year was unstoppable in both ends of the court, scoring 19 of the Vikes' opening 27 points. Renfrew showed her versatility in scoring dropping both left and right hand layups, two three-point shots and completing an and-one play. It was not without help as fellow Claremont grad and senior Goodis was the energetic playmaker behind the opening 27-14 UVic lead.
 
The home team hands went a bit cold in the second frame and were out-scored 18-15. The crafty ball handling of Donald paced the Wesmen back to trail by only 10, while Renfrew managed to sink another seven points to total 26 points in the opening two quarter. The Vikes held a 42-32 advantage entering half time.

In the third the heat continued to turn up for Renfrew, while the Vikes began to show a bit of ease in their execution. Sprangers came off the pine to get on the stats sheet both in scoring and in rebounding, as the Vikes pushed their lead to 22, leading 62-40 entering the fourth. Winnipeg failed to muster much outside of a Noonan three pointer and some more speedy runs from Donald. 
 
Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair dipped into her bench for the final quarter as Winnipeg continued to find some rhythym. It was a 9-8 fourth quarter of scoring in favour of Victoria, while the Vikes walked away with a 71-48 final score. Victoria and Winnipeg will meet again tomorrow, Jan. 17, at McKinnon Gym at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast live at http://canadawest.tv
 
Notes: In Canada West all-time records, Calgary's Megan Koch holds the record for most points scored in a single game, 49, against  Saskatchewan in 2006. The University of Victoria single-game scoring record is held by Carol Turney with 42 points, back in 1978 against Saskatchewan.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
UVIC: 27-15-20-9 : 71
WPG: 14-18-8-8 : 48
 
SCORING LEADERS
UVIC: Jessica Renfrew (36), Cassandra Goodis (8), Amy Sprangers (6)
WPG: Megan Noonan (17), Taylor Thorkelsson (9), Samantah Donald (9)