VICTORIA – The University of Victoria Vikes women's basketball team began their Manitoba road trip on a rough note on Jan. 22, losing 75-65 to the Winnipeg Wesmen to drop to 5-8 on the season. The Wesmen improve to 3-8 ahead of tomorrow's rematch at 12:00 p.m. PST at the Duckworth Centre in Winnipeg, Man.
 
The loss for the Vikes stretches their winless streak to three games after a sweep at the hands of the Alberta Pandas the weekend prior in Edmonton. The Wesmen alternatively have put together a two-game win streak after snapping an eight-game slide that stretched back to their second game of the season against the Calgary Dinos.
 
Fourth-year forward Nicole Karstein led the Vikes offensively with 17 points, three rebounds and three steals while fellow fourth year Jenna Bugiardini had another strong game on both sides of the court with a double-double of 13 points and 15 rebounds. First-year guard Brittani Yee found the scoresheet with 12 points and two rebounds for the Vikes.
 
Fourth-year guard Megan Noonan put together another strong offensive performance by leading all Wesmen in scoring with 17 points. Third year Skylar Boulanger followed closely behind Noonan with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
 
"Winnipeg gave us a lot of trouble with their press and we weren't able to execute," commented Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair. "We allowed it to affect our game and how we play. We started turning over the ball and giving up too many easy shots."
 
The Wesmen came out as the aggressors in the first quarter, but the Vikes ability to spread around the three-point shooters kept the game close as they adjusted to their opponents' style. Winnipeg led 22-17 after 10 minutes, going 8-for-12 at the foul line. Victoria hit both foul shots they were granted.

In the second quarter, Yee hit three early treys, contributing to the visitors ability to take a 34-32 advantage into the locker room at the half. Victoria opened the quarter on an 8-0 run, with two threes from Yee and a deuce from fourth-year forward Jenna Bugiardini, but a timeout by Wesmen coach Tanya McKay allowed the home side to adjust and get back four of those points soon after.

The Wesmen came out hard in the third quarter going on a 13-2 point run to regain the lead. Noonen led the Wesmen with 12 points in the quarter, giving her a game-high 20. The Vikes shot a low 3-for-15 in the third quarter to help give the Wesmen back the lead going into the fourth quarter up 55-47.

 
The fourth quarter didn't present any favourable fortune for the Vikes as the Wesmen gathered their largest lead 13 points half-way through the final quarter. The lead proved too much for the Vikes who fell to the Wesmen with a final score of 75-65.
 
"Winnipeg are a good team that's played some tough opposition up to this point in the season," said Sinclair. "Our players need to step up their game going into tomorrow's rematch to earn ourselves back some confidence."
 
The rematch between the Vikes and Wesmen goes at 12:00 p.m. PST on Jan. 23 at the Duckworth Centre in Winnipeg. Pay-per-view with live stats are available online at uvic.canadawest.tv while free live stats can be found at canadawest.org.
 
Game Summary:
            1          2          3          4          F
UVIC:  17       17       13       18       65
WPG:  22       10       21       22       75
 
Scoring Summary:
UVIC: N. Karstein (17), J. Bugiardini (13), B. Yee (12), J. Krug (12)
WPG: M. Noonan (20), S. Boulanger (17), K. Kuzbyt (14)