VICTORIA – The UVic Vikes women's basketball put up their second-highest point total of the season in a comfortable 90-78 victory over the Manitoba Bisons on Jan. 14 in Winnipeg, MB.
 
The victory not only gave the Vikes the weekend sweep over the Bisons, but also ran their Canada West winning streak to six-straight games. The last time the team dropped a regular season game was all the way back on November 18, 2017.
 
That winning streak has vaulted the Vikes all the way into a tie for fourth in the conference with a record of 10-4 on the season. The Bisons meanwhile, drop to a record of 8-8 and are in a tie for eighth-place.
 
"The season is so long and the race in the middle of the pack is so tight that you can't get too high or too low, you just have to try and find advantages against every team you play," said Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair.
 
As is expected whenever a team hits 90 points, multiple players made large contributions in the victory.
 
Amira Giannattasio led the way with 22 points in her 39 minutes on the court, while Kristy Gallagher and Ashlyn Day both added 16 points apiece.
 
Third-year forward Katie Langdon had her strongest offensive game of the season with 15 points and ten rebounds.
 
"Manitoba doesn't have a true big and we wanted to get Katie going right off the bat," said Sinclair. "She found a way inside and played an important role for us on the boards and defensively as well."
 
Calli McMillan was also strong in the afternoon contest, recording eight points, seven assists and three rebounds.
 
"Calli found advantages against bigger players off the dribble and played a really nice role for us off the bench, especially with Kristy (Gallagher) being in foul trouble," said Sinclair.
 
While the Bisons were able to keep the game close throughout, the Vikes largest lead was only 13 points, the outcome of the game was never really in doubt. Manitoba never held the lead after the closing moments of the first quarter and even in the few minutes that the Vikes did trail early, the lead was never larger than four points.
 
"There were a couple times in the second half where it got a little too tight, when they got it down to six, but we were able to make plays offensively to stretch out the lead," said Sinclair. "We kept giving up too many easy scores. We built enough of a buffer that we were okay but we can't trade baskets like that, we have to get more stops."
 
The Vikes will now return to Victoria where they will play their next five games inside the friendly confines of the CARSA Performance Gym. First up on that home stand is a pair of games against the University of Northern British Columbia Timberwolves on Jan. 19 and 20.
 
"In UNBC we are going to have a real tough test against two players that are dominant in our league so you can't be thinking about whether you're hot or not, the only thing that matters is what you do in your next game and they'll be a tough test for us," said Sinclair.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
VIC: 25-20-20-25: 90
MAN: 23-14-19-22: 78
 
SCORING LEADERS
VIC: Amira Giannattasio (22), Kristy Gallagher (16), Ashlyn Day (16)
MAN: Taylor Randall (21), Nicole Konieczny (18), Claire Harvey (12)