VICTORIA – The University of Victoria Vikes handled the Brandon University Bobcats 98-59 on Friday night at the CARSA Performance Gym.

On one of the longest road trip in the Canada West, the Bobcats ran into a Vikes squad that was firing on all cylinders from the opening tip. The Vikes got a bucket in nine of their first 10 trips down the floor.

"We relied a lot on our offence tonight. It's great, but it's not exactly how we want to play," said Vikes Head Coach Dani Sinclair. "It was good because we were aggressive and got to the rim, but from there, there was a strange up-and-down energy in the gym and with our team. Don't get me wrong, we're happy with the win. We just need to do a better job on defence."

Morgan Roskelley started the evening by hitting a three and Kristy Gallagher sliced through the lane for four points to get rolling.

Haily Weaver provided a huge punch for the Vikes coming off the bench four minutes in. She hit a three, got to the free throw line and got into the paint to rack up eight points in six minutes in the first half. Her 12 points made her one of five Vikes to finish in double figures.

In the second quarter, Gallagher continued her hot shooting with more drives to the lane and midrange jumpers. She enjoyed one of her more efficient games of the season with a team-high 18 points on 12 shots. She also posted five rebounds and seven assists.

Kylie Weckend drained a three from the wing in the first quarter and added another field goal in the second quarter to lead the Bobcats with five points at the break.

The ball movement for the Vikes was too much for the Bobcats to handle and was evident midway through the second quarter when after four passes in and around the Bobcats' zone, Calli MacMillan drained one of her two threes.

The Vikes defence kept the Bobcats off balance in the second quarter by switching up man schemes and zone looks. The Vikes were also up 30-13 in the rebounding battle and forced 14 turnovers. As a result, they suffocated the Bobcats second quarter and entered halftime on a 21-1 run.

"Whatever we did in the second quarter, we stopped doing in the third and fourth quarter at times. We've relied on our offence in the past and that doesn't work in the long run," said Sinclair. 

Aleah Ashlee got to work with extended minutes in the second half, as she opened with a three, hit a turnaround jumper over her left shoulder in the paint and made her way to the free throw line. She also tied for the team lead with five bounds.

The Bobcats also found their groove in the third quarter and tied the Vikes 19-19. They forced their way to the charity stripe 23 times, 17 times more often than they did in the first half.

Hailey Maas banged in a pair of three-pointers, en route to posting 10 points in the frame. She finished with 13 points and led the Bobcats with four assists, five rebounds and four steals.

Ashlyn Day was constantly buzzing and in motion for the Vikes. With six steals on the defensive end, she found a way to find simple baskets on the offensive side and finished with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

Finding position underneath the basket, Katie Langdon matched Day shot-for-shot and ended her evening with 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting, with the majority coming from bunnies around the rim.

With the Vikes 14^th-straight win over Brandon, they improve to 4-1 this season, while the Bobcats dropped to 0-7.

These two teams will wrap up the weekend series tomorrow night back at CARSA. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.