Horns rally just short
UBC wins one-game women’s basketball playoff
They pushed it to the final buzzer, but the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s basketball team’s first trip to the post season in seven years has been halted after one game.
The Pronghorns were edged 77-74 by the UBC Thunderbirds in the teams’ one-game Canada West playoff Friday night in Vancouver.
Trailing by double digits in the third quarter, the Horns closed the gap in the dying minutes, but that final push fell just short, ending a memorable 11-9 season that was also the program’s first trip to playoffs since the 2009-10 season.
“I have to be proud of the way we finished the game,” said Pronghorns assistant coach Dave Waknuk. “We were down 14 in the third and chopped that down to four. I think if there were two more minutes in the game, I think we have a good chance to win that game. It’s unfortunate to run out of time, but it says a lot about the team and it says a lot about the way they played and who they are with the way they finished. We’re not a team that rolls over and they can feel proud of that.
“It was just a couple of runs against good teams, they’ll punish your mistakes,” said Waknuk. “We had some turnovers that led to easy points and that was really the difference.”
But late, the Horns turned the tables back on their opponents and nearly posted a comeback.
“(It was) pressure defence, we really forced them to make mistakes,” said Waknuk. “I thought we played tough defensively and forced them to throw the ball away. We guarded as hard as we could and I think that resulted in making a run and then the momentum started to be on our side.”
Playing in her final game as a Pronghorn, fifth-year guard Zoe Dahl led the team with 25 points.
Kacie Bosch scored 11 points and Kathryn Hankins added 10. Bosch and Dahl also had four assists and three steals. Katie Keith hauled in eight rebounds. “I loved the grit and the battle back in the fourth quarter,” said Pronghorns head coach Dave Adams. “We lit the fuse a little too late and needed five more possessions to win. I’m extremely proud of this team and their incredible growth this season. We must now take the torch of leadership from Zoe Dahl to continue to move forward. Zoe probably played her best game in her last game as a Pronghorn.
With the exception of Dahl, the rest of this year’s roster will return next year.
“But I think there are a lot of bright spots,” said Waknuk. “There’s one obviously big piece leaving the room, but there is a whole room coming back. This thing has been a journey.”
However, the Horns depart this the 2017-18 season with a unique stat.
“(We had) one or two of the biggest-ranked win percentage differences (from the previous season) in Canada,” said Waknuk. “We’re up in the leaders of of biggest change in winning percentage in USPORTS and that’s what we have to remember here. Obviously, the short term didn’t work out our way tonight, but the big picture is good for where we stand. This is a team that finally gets to mature and get older together. We came in and we were young and we’ve been young for while. We’re still kind of young. This team gets a chance to grow and develop. I think every game we played this year we got improvements. We know what it felt like to be a playoff team and I think that’s great motivation going forward.”