VICTORIA – The University of Victoria Vikes advanced to the Canada West quarterfinals following the 69-49 victory over the University of Regina Cougars on Friday night at the CARSA Performance Gym.

For the Vikes, it was their sixth-straight victory in the play-in game. It was also the reversal of the trend that saw the Cougars eliminate the Vikes five times since the 2010-11 season.

The game got off to a slow start offensively, as neither team shot over 30 per cent in the opening frame. Led by a pair of jumpers from Marissa Dheensaw, the home side was up 11-9 after 10 minutes.

The Vikes started a lineup that allowed them to switch more on defence, but it took them a while to figure how to handle one of the league's better rebounders.

"We went with a different lineup tonight, one that allowed us to switch a lot of things defensively and it paid off," said Vikes Head Coach Dani Sinclair. "There was a bit of an edge with us tonight. Our girls can be too relaxed at times, but I thought tonight our energy was high from the start. Maybe a little too high, there was some nervous energy, but even with that, we were still controlling the pace despite missing some shots."

With all the early misses, it appeared as if Macaela Crone was on pace to have a monster game on the glass. Through the opening 20 minutes, she surpassed her season average of 7.4 rebounds per game with nine in the first half. Her effectiveness wore off in the final two quarters, as she closed with only two boards.

Even though Crone did a great job establishing her body position on the block, her touch around the rim was off, as she started the game 2-for-8 and finished 3-for-12 from inside the paint. She also missed both her three-point attempts.

Inserted into the starting lineup, Aleah Ashlee got the Vikes offence on track in the second quarter with a pair of moves with her back to the basket. Her quick six points in the second quarter opened up the shots from outside. On back-to-back trips down the floor, Morgan Roskelley and Ashlyn Day each knocked down a three.

"We looked to run the ball tonight with our smaller lineup. Once our nerves settled down, we got used to the game and played better," said Ashlee. "I came out and went for it tonight. Shoot your shot and who cares, you gotta go for it becuase it's the playoffs," said Ashlee.

The third-year forward Day led the Vikes with nine at the break looked as if she was going to kick it up a notch in the third with some dribble drives to get to the hoop. However, with 13 points four minutes into the third, she picked up her third foul and subbed out.

Checking back in towards the end of the frame, Day didn't miss a beat, as she got to her spot in the paint and used a couple shots off the glass to finish with 15 points.

Aleah matched Day and routinely got to her happy spots on the floor for points in the paint. She ended up with a playoff career-high 15 points.

The Cougars struggled to find consistency on the offensive end all night. Looking for a transition bucket in the third, Michaela Kleisinger drove into a pair of bodies, missed the shot and didn't earn a trip to the stripe either. She added five points in the fourth to lead the Cougars with 12.

Emily Dewey did her best to keep the Cougars in it. After scoring four points in the first half, she doubled her production in the third quarter with a pair of jumpers and contributed to a 7-0 run in the fourth. Alexi Rowden added an and-1 play in the fourth for three of her nine points, but that is as close as the Cougars would come at forcing the upset.

While the Cougars cleaned up the glass early, the Vikes barged their way into the paint and onto the glass. The Vikes stretched their lead to 22 points in the third when Dheensaw picked up and completed a pair of and-1s, both on offensive rebound opportunities. Dheensaw nailed a three at the end of the shot clock in the fourth to lead the Vikes with 17 points.

"We really settled in during the second half. To have three players with 15 or more points in pretty impressive. I really thought that Aleah and Marissa led us in a lot of different aspects," said Sinclair.

"Credit to Victoria, I thought they were very aggressive tonight. We got into a bit of a funk and couldn't hit shots and that energized them. It wasn't one of our better nights and that wasn't for lack of effort on our part, we just didn't shoot the ball well enough. Trying to play out of a hole like we did tonight is extremely tough, and once they smelled blood in the water they did a good job of attacking," said Cougars Head Coach Dave Taylor.
 
The Vikes will now travel to Saskatoon to battle the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on Feb. 20 in the quarterfinals.