Tale of the Weekend
VICTORIA – One year ago the UVic Vikes women's basketball team had their season come to an end when they were defeated in the playoffs by the MacEwan University Griffins.
The Vikes will get the chance to return the favour this weekend, when they host those very same Griffins in a first round playoff match taking place inside the CARSA Performance Gym from February 17-19.
Both the Friday and Saturday games will get underway at 7 p.m. with the potential third game of the best-of-three series set to take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Finishing the regular season with a record of 12-8, the Vikes come into the weekend as the No. 6 seed in the Canada West playoffs. The Griffins hold a record of 7-13, good enough for the No. 11 seed.
The winner of this best-of-three series will head out on the road next weekend to face the No. 3 seed Winnipeg Wesmen.
The Vikes come into this weekend with an edge in more than just the standings, they swept the Griffins in a pair of games played in Edmonton back in the middle of November.
"Teams change quite a bit as the year goes on but it will be nice to have some familiarity," said Vikes head coach
Dani Sinclair. "It gives you some basis of what their style of play is. Which is different from last year, going into the playoffs last year we had seen them in preseason and then not really until that weekend."
Capturing the sweep by scores of 68-61 and 74-52, the Vikes played two vastly different games against the Griffins; one in which they needed some clutch shooting late to capture the victory and another in which they used a dominating inside presence to win.
"The Friday night we kind of stole one, they were up late, did a good job defensively against us and we did well down the stretch to make some big plays," said Sinclair. "Saturday we made some adjustments, played better defensively and rebounded the ball better, we played more our style, controlled the tempo and the game a little bit better."
"I'm hoping we can do the same thing again this weekend and it's always nice to have that home court advantage too."
Last Time Out
With a possible first round bye up for grabs, the Vikes were unable to pull off an upset last weekend as they lost 88-76 and 80-69 to the Wesmen.
"Winnipeg is the top scoring team in the conference and they are lethal, you have to be locked in at all five spots because they have so many weapons," said Sinclair. "We were able to do it for a quarter and you need to be more disruptive than that to be able to take them out"
MacEwan meanwhile, punched their ticket to the playoffs courtesy of a 64-59 win over the Calgary Dinos last weekend. One night after giving up a 17-point lead in a 66-64 loss to the Dinos, the Griffins took care of business in their final regular season game to ensure they made the post-season.
"They've had a good stretch of games here, that was a big win for them on Saturday against Calgary, so it'll be a tough matchup," said Sinclair.
By the Numbers
16. 3: The number of points per game Kendall Lydon is scoring to lead the Griffins and sit sixth in the conference.
69.8: The number of points per game the Vikes score as a team, fifth-highest in the conference and almost ten more than MacEwan.
2: The Vikes have won a first round playoff series at home for the last two years in a row.
Coach's Take
Dani Sinclair, Vikes head coach
"They have a very experienced fifth-year point guard (Kendall Lydon) who caused us some trouble when we played them earlier in the season and last year."
"Moving into this weekend you can't say 'okay we aren't playing the top scoring team so we can let down' we are at the level now where all the teams left have earned their way and have the ability to score. MacEwan hit some big baskets late in that game to knock off a higher-ranked team last weekend."
"There can't be any letdown and if anything, I'm hoping that having now played the top offensive team in the conference that we can play to that level. We need to hopefully use that as a motivator."
"If I were to sum it up in one way it would be just to compete. It is those extra effort plays, where people are diving on the ball or making a read. Making basketball plays."
"Wanting it more and to be more desperate is key. Playing desperate at this time of year is what gets you by. We've seen both sides of that, we've played some desperate teams and we've been a desperate team. It's that extra little effort to get into the passing lanes, grab that rebound."
Game Information
Friday, Feb. 17 –7:00 p.m. – vs. MacEwan Griffins, CARSA Performance Gym, Victoria B.C.
Watch live on canadawest.tv
Buy tickets at govikeso.com/tickets
Saturday, Feb. 18 –7:00 p.m. – vs. MacEwan Griffins, CARSA Performance Gym, Victoria B.C.
Watch live on canadawest.tv
Buy tickets at govikesgo.com/tickets
GAME 3 IF NECESSARY
Sunday, Feb. 18 –1:00 p.m. – vs. MacEwan Griffins, CARSA Performance Gym, Victoria B.C.
Watch live on canadawest.tv
Buy tickets at govikesgo.com/tickets
MacEwan Griffins (7-13)
U Sports National Ranking: N/A
Canada West Standings: 11
RPI: 0.4749
Last Week: 1-1
Streak: W 1
Last Canada West Title: N/A
Last U SPORTS Title: N/A
