VICTORIA – The University of Victoria Vikes women's basketball team will journey to the prairies to take on the MacEwan Griffins in the best-of-three Canada West Quarter-Finals on Mar. 4-6 after defeating the Trinity Western Spartans 2-1 in the Play-In Series at the CARSA Performance Gym. All three games will be hosted by MacEwan in Edmonton, Alta. after the Griffins finished first overall in the Explorer Division and earned a bye to the second round.
 
The Vikes needed three games to do it, but ultimately they secured their spot in the quarter-finals with a 62-44 win on Sunday, Feb. 28 to take the series over the Spartans. The win wrapped up a tough series and a strong weekend from Vikes Jenna Bugiardini and Nicole Karstein, who each posted two double-doubles in the winning weekend. Jenna Krug missed only two minutes on the floor all weekend while Kristy Gallagher and Amira Giannattasio provided crucial secondary scoring.
 
"The familiarity won't be there for us like it would be for a team like Fraser Valley, UBC or Trinity Western," said Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair, who has yet to coach a Canada West game within MacEwan's City Centre Campus Main Gym. "They are a team that's physically strong, aggressive and experienced."
 
The Vikes will expect a tough contest knowing that MacEwan came out on top in the Explorer Division with a 17-3 record, earning the right to host the quarter-final and their first-ever home playoff series. The "twin towers" in veterans Kelly Fagan and Megan Wood have been a force to be dealt with for the Griffins all season with Wood averaging 18.4 points per game and Fagan averaging 9.4 rebounds per game.
 
"(Wood's) ability to score, rebound and take up space on the court will be a big challenge for us," said Sinclair. "They're both very aggressive and relentless on the offensive boards. As a whole MacEwan has a lot of role players that can jump in and make an impact."
 
Both teams are capable of having players make big contributions outside of the starting five. The Griiffins had eight players average ten minutes per game or higher during the regular season to the Vikes' nine. That bench depth was exemplified this past weekend for the Vikes when Giannattasio and Bugiardini ran into foul trouble in Game 3 of the Play-In Series.
 
"The series could definitely come down to that," commented Sinclair of both teams' benches. "Both teams have two prominent forwards and critical role players that can make an impact when those players are marked down." 
 
The Vikes and Griffins met earlier in the year during pre-season in October when the Vikes took away a 76-70 victory. The Griffins were on the third of three road games, and both teams can expect a much more different and improved side from one another in this upcoming series.
 
"It gives you a bit of a sense of what to expect, but both teams had key players out and both teams have changed so much since then," added Sinclair. "We expect both teams to be very different, but it's important that both teams got that early look at each other so that it's not a complete unknown."
 
Game 1 of the best-of-three Canada West Quarter-Finals against MacEwan goes at 5:00 p.m. PST at the City Centre Campus Main Gym in Edmonton, Alta. All weekend games can be streamed live with pay-per-view stats and video at canadawest.tv. Free live stats are available at canadawest.org.