A handful of Chilliwack women have started their last university basketball playoff run as members of the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades.
Courtney Bartel, Alexa McCarthy and Nicole Wierks are all done after this year, and hope to cap off their careers with a CIS championship.
Their Canada West quarter-final against the Calgary Dinos started last night, and continues tonight at the Envision Athletic Centre in Abbotsford.
The Dinos are no cream-puff first-round opponent, having finished 13-9 in regular season play.
The Dinos were third in Canada West rebounding, pulling down 42.8 boards per game.
Top scorer Tamara Jarrett was 13th in the Canada West, averaging 13.5 points per game.
Still, there’s no doubt the Cascades are heavy favourites after finishing the regular season 17-5.
They went 9-2 at home and have a deadly combination of stingy defence and potent offence.
On the attack, UFV averaged 70.2 points per game, third best in the Canada West. They had the top D, limiting opponents to 53.3 points per game.
Chilliwack’s Sarah Wierks led the conference in offensive rebounds, pulling down 4.1 per game.
The Chilliwack secondary school graduate is eighth on the all-time Canada West list with 310 offensive rebounds over her four-year career.
Her Cascades finished eighth at the CIS Final Eight tournament last year, the school’s first ever trip to nationals.
Every player from that team returned this year.
Game two of this best of three series versus Calgary tips off at 7 p.m. tonight.
Game three, if necessary, goes Saturday night with a 7 p.m. start.
Watch the games online at canadawest.tv and get Cascades info at ufvcascades.ca
