Great second half falls short by a basket!
The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades learned tonight that they can compete with the best of Canada West, as they fell short in their 58-52 loss to the University of Victoria Vikes. The Cascades Canada West regular season record now stands at 2-4, but their last four games were against CIS top ten teams and three of these losses were by 11-points or less. They have showed they can compete with the number 2 ranked Vikes and number 6th ranked Huskies over the past two weekends.
Tonight UFV came out strong and battle all night with Victoria, now 8-0 in Canada West, trailing by 2-points after the first quarter, it would be the second quarter that left the home team in a small whole going into the second half as they were outscored 17-9 in the frame.
The second half was very entertaining basketball as Victoria had their hands full with the young very energetic Cascades that kept chipping away that 10-point halftime deficit. The Cascades got to within 3-points of Victoria twice in the final quarter before they had one last opportunity to tie the game late before Victoria closed out the game and won their league leading 8th of the season.
“It came down to the last 20 seconds, they (Victoria) got a big stop and that was the game,” said UFV Head Coach Al Tuchscherer. “It’s nice to know we are at the point where we can compete with some very good teams, the process of beating them is proving difficult and painful.” “But these are lessons we must learn. I was proud of our fight in the second half.”
The Cascades were led by Aieisha Luyken, Mission, BC with a team high 23-points, 3-assists and 3-total rebounds. Luyken hit several three point second half baskets to bring UFV within 3-points of Victoria on several “key” moments in the second half. Tessa Hart, Mission, BC added 12-points and Sarah Wierks, Chilliwack, BC led the Cascades with 8-total rebounds.
The Vikes top scorer was Debbie Yeboah with 16-points. Kayla Dykstra pulled down 11-total rebounds. The Cascades out rebounded Victoria 40 to 33 for the game.
VIC 12 17 12 17 = 58 (8-0)
UFV 10 9 16 17 = 52 (2-4)
Top Scorers:
VIC: Yeboah 16-points
UFV: Luyken 23-points
Team Rebounds:
VIC 10+23 = 33
UFV 14+26 = 40
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