Tale of the Weekend
 
VICTORIA – Everything is up for grabs this coming Friday, Feb. 9, when the University of Victoria Vikes women's basketball team hosts the Fraser Valley Cascades in a Canada West play-in contest scheduled for 7:00 p.m. inside the CARSA Performance Gym.
 
The first 400 UVic students through the gates* will receive complimentary tickets in a game that pits the fifth-seeded Vikes against the 12th-seeded Cascades.
 
The Vikes record of 16-4 at the end of the regular season saw them miss out on a bye straight through to the Canada West quarter-finals by just .0019 of an RPI point. For the Cascades, their record of 8-12 tied them with the Thompson Rivers WolfPack for the 12th and final playoff spot. Fraser Valley advanced through to the playoffs thanks to their sweep of the WolfPack on Jan. 12 and 13 that clinched them the head-to-head tie-breaker.
 
The winner of Friday's solitary play-in game will advance to the Canada West quarter-finals where a matchup against one of the top-four teams in the conference awaits. The Regina Cougars (18-2), Saskatchewan Huskies (17-3), Trinity Western Spartans (16-4) and Calgary Dinos (15-5) all earned a bye.
 
Fraser Valley and the Vikes met twice earlier this season with the teams splitting a pair of pre-season contests in Abbotsford, B.C. The Cascades dominated the opening night by a score of 72-60, before the Vikes rebounded to pick up a 58-41 victory in the second game.
 
Last Time Out
 
Two more victories ensured that the Vikes winning streak ran to 12 games, while the Cascades kept their season alive with a split last weekend.
 
Playing against their rivals, the UBC Thunderbirds, in a home-and-home series to finish off the regular season, the Vikes showed great resolve in winning two games that went down to the wire.
 
Kristy Gallagher scored the game-clinching points in a 76-74 win in Victoria on Feb. 1, while Amira Giannattasio put up 13 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Vikes to a 77-73 victory in Vancouver on Feb. 2.
 
The Cascades fell 79-74 in overtime on Friday, Feb. 2 to the Manitoba Bisons before picking up an 80-56 victory over those same Bisons in what was a must-win game on Saturday, Feb. 3. Third-year forward Taylor Claggett set a new Canada West record by going 15-of-19 from the charity stripe in the team's post-season clinching victory.
 
By the Numbers
 
17.9 & 17.8: Giannattasio and Gallagher sit sixth and seventh in the conference respectively, with both fourth-years putting up nearly 18 points a game.
71%: The Cascades three-headed monster of Claggett, Shayna Littman and Sara Simovic account for 45.9 of the team's 64.5 points per game.
12: The Vikes' current 12 game winning-streak is the second-longest in the nation, behind only the 19-0 Carleton Ravens
 
Coach's Take
Dani Sinclair, Vikes head coach
 
On the pre-season contests.
"Both teams have changed a lot and what's at stake in the games is completely different. When you look at the boxscores from October the line ups and minute distribution has changed completely for both teams. They have a couple veteran players and so do we, but we are both relatively young teams and the development of individual players has come a long way on both sides."
 
"To finish top-four and get a bye was a big goal for us but you have to look at what is in front of you. We would have been sitting out for two full weeks if we had gotten the bye and that can hurt a team. Last time we won a national championship here we finished fifth in our conference, were a .500 team and took the long way to get there, so the clearest path isn't always the best path. With the way our team is playing it might be better for us to just keep playing."
 
On the Vikes current winning streak.
"The girls have to be proud of that. They were very focused on playing one game at a time, no matter who we were playing or what gym we were playing in. They had this ability to find a way to win no matter what circumstances came up during the course of a game and I think that has to continue to be our mindset. We can't celebrate the streak or else that becomes what the season is about and hopefully there is much more to come."
 
"That's part of what you have to love about this time of year. Sometimes the idea of a three-game series is pretty daunting. At the end of the day you have to show up, you have to be able to perform and you do everything you can to prepare for that and I think we've done a good job of that throughout the season. Whether it's one game, or a best-of-three series you just have to get out there and play."
 
On Shayna Littman and Taylor Clagget.
"They are tough, their season was on the line Saturday night and it's impressive to see how much they wanted it, those two in particular made things happen for their team. Littman's university career would have ended with a loss and she just wasn't going to allow that to happen. It's fun for us to come against that, we have players that have been playing similarly and we will have to find ways to limit them, but it should be fun to see two teams that play with a lot of passion and intensity match up together.
 
Game Info
Friday, Feb. 9 – 7:00 p.m. – vs. UFV Cascades, CARSA Performance Gym – Watch live on canadawest.tv | Buy tickets at govikesgo.com

* First 400 UVic students with ONEcard are complimentary. First 300 fans will receive 2 for 1 tickets (in person only, first come, first serve basis). Game night is presented by Best Western Plus Carlton Plaza who will be giving a trip for two (travel and accommodation) and tickets to see the Vancouver Canucks vs. the New York Islanders on Mar. 5.
 
UFV Cascades (8-12)
Canada West Standings: 12th
RPI: .4486, 12th
PF: 1290
PA: 1342
Last Week: 1-1
Streak: W 1
Last Canada West Title: N/A
Last U SPORTS Title: N/A