The University of the Fraser Valley women’s basketball team bounced back from a Friday defeat to earn a split of their weekend exhibition series with the Calgary Dinos.
Playing at UFV’s Envision Athletic Centre on Saturday evening, the Cascades got 15 points from Katie Brink and 14 from Kayli Sartori in a 64-59 victory.
The Dinos, coming off a 69-57 win in the opener, saw Claire Colborne tie Brink for game-high scoring honours with 15 points. Kelsey Lund (nine points) and Ashley Hirons (eight) also chipped in offensively for the visitors.
“I think tonight we were solid,” Cascades head coach Al Tuchscherer analyzed. “We wanted to look at a few different things defensively, and I thought that brought some focus at the defensive end of the floor. We kept them to the perimeter a bit better tonight.
“And then offensively, I thought our tempo was more deliberate tonight, whereas last night we were a little bit frantic. Those were a couple of big adjustments that allowed us to have success.”
Tuchscherer was pleased with the play of point guard Kate Head, a rookie out of Maple Ridge Secondary, and shooting guard Sydney Williams, a transfer from Thompson Rivers University. Both players were inserted into the starting lineup after coming off the bench on Friday, and Tuchscherer said the duo played “fantastic.”
Williams counted a pair of three-pointers among her eight points, and Head’s four points were highlighted by a huge fourth-quarter trey to help the Cascades maintain the lead.
“The most encouraging thing for us was that we did make some adjustments, and we were quite a bit better tonight,” Tuchscherer said. “And our effort was good both nights, so we don’t need to teach that. When that’s there, you can make inroads quite quickly.”
The Cascades now take a break from game action for a couple weeks before participating in the Regina Cougars’ preseason tournament, Oct. 8-10.
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