After splitting weekend games against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack, the Cascades men’s and women’s basketball teams can now start prepping for the post-season.
The UFV women (12-8) will face the Regina Cougars, the sixth-place finisher from the Pioneer Division, in a best-of-three first-round playoff series that starts this weekend in Abbotsford. Games run Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (6 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m., if necessary) at the Envision Athletic Centre.
The Cascades men, meanwhile, finished the season 17-3 and won the Explorer Division regular-season title and will be the No. 2 overall seed in the Canada West playoffs. They have a first-round bye and will host a best-of-three quarter-final series beginning Feb. 27 against the winner of this week’s Calgary Dinos-Manitoba Bisons series.
Fifth-year Cascades players Jasper Moedt and Kadeem Willis of the men’s team and Sarah Wierks and Celeste Dyck of the women’s team played their last regular season-games for the Cascades on the weekend against the WolfPack.
UFV honoured the four players on Saturday with a special Senior Night celebration for the four players who have contributed so much to Cascades basketball.
“I’m sad about it, but then again, I’m ready for it,” said Willis prior to Saturday’s game. “I’ve played a while now, and I hope to continue playing basketball after. For now, I can just look to be a leader. All the stuff I learned throughout my five years really helped me in my life.
On Saturday Wierks added 12 rebounds for her 18th double-double of the season, tying a Canada West record. She also set single-season conference marks for total rebounds (307) and rebounding average (15.4), and finished atop the Canada West scoring list with 19.2 points per game.
