Abbotsford — The UFV Cascades women’s basketball team (18-5) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second minute tonight against the University of Calgary Dinos (13-10), and kept building that lead through most of the game on their way to a confident 67-48 home win. The Dinos finally came to life in the fourth with a 23 point quarter, but it wasn’t enough to derail the Cascades from taking the first game in the best-of-three Canada West Quarter-Final series.
Calgary shot only 18.5 percent from the floor in the first half, scoring only four points in the first quarter and trailing 34-16 at halftime. The Cascades, by contrast, found their hero in Nataliia Gavryliuk, who put up 12 points and 4 rebounds in the first two quarters and was an obvious leader on the floor. Gavryliuk finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, leading all scorers for the second straight game.
The Dinos were led by Kristie Sheils with 13 points and Tamara Jarrett with 10 points. Despite trailing 46-18 more than six minutes into the third quarter, Calgary would outscore the Cascades 23-16 in the fourth to narrow their deficit to a respectable margin. Nine Dinos finished with points and ten recorded at least one rebound in the loss.
UFV dominated the play through three quarters tonight, locking down the Dinos defensively and surgically dissecting them on offense. For three quarters they looked like the fifth-ranked team in Canada, before conceding control of the game in the fourth. The Cascades have struggled all year with consistency, and will need to find a way to play a full four quarters as they look to continue their playoff run.
“A solid effort on the defensive side of things tonight,” said Cascades coach Al Tuchscherer. “Offensively we were a little disjointed and we struggled initiating our offence at times. We will need to be better tomorrow to get a second win.”
The Cascades and Dinos will continue the game Friday at 7 pm, once again at the EAC. Watch the game online at canadawest.tv
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