The University of Victoria Vikes women’s basketball team moves on to the quarter-finals of the Canada West playoffs after a weekend sweep of the visiting MacEwan Griffins.
A big second half led the UVic Vikes women’s basketball team to a 68-60 victory Saturday inside the CARSA Performance Gym.
The Vikes now face the Winnipeg Wesmen in a best-of-three series in Manitoba.
“What a tough team and a tough performance from MacEwan, they gave us a lot of fits throughout the game,” said Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair. “We didn’t deal with their pressure and their physicality very well in the first half but we pulled through and were able to make some plays.”
Fifth-year Vike Jenna Krug led all scorers with 22 points in the game. Scoring 19 points in the second half.
“Jenna absolutely carried our team tonight, she literally put the team on her shoulders at times,” said Sinclair. “She was a big reason why we were able to pull it through.”
Nicole Karstein added 14 points and seven rebounds for another strong game in the paint, while Jenna Bugiardini recorded 12 points and seven rebounds in limited time on the court due to foul trouble.
The teams were still separated by just two points after the third quarter, but the Vikes went on an 11-3 run at the start of the fourth to cement their lead.
On Friday, the UVic Vikes women outscored the MacEwan Griffins by 20 points over the final three quarters to win 67-54. The veterans stepped up when the team needed it most with Karstein, Bugiardini and Krug all scoring in the double-digits on the night.
The Vikes meanwhile will have a chance for revenge when they head out on the road to take on the No. 3-seeded Wesmen, who swept the Vikes in Victoria just week earlier.
“Excited to move on and we’ll celebrate that tonight but it’s a pretty quick turnaround,” said Sinclair. “We got a chance to see Winnipeg just last week so I think our girls will be pretty hungry.
“The nice thing this weekend is we got some contributions from people off the bench and hopefully we can move forward with that momentum.”
When & where
• The Vikes next face the Winnipeg Wesmen in the quarter-finals of the Canada West playoffs Feb. 23 and 24 in Winnipeg, with a possible Game 3 Feb. 25.
• All playoff games can be watched live on canadawest.tv
