Pronghorns set for playoff showdowns
The time is now for the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s basketball team to keep playing.
The Horns do that tonight in Game 1 of the team’s bestof-three Canada West quarter-final series against the Alberta Pandas at 6 p.m. in Edmonton.
The Pronghorns come into the weekend series riding the high of their 99-60 Canada West play-in win over the Manitoba Bisons last Friday at the 1st Choice Savings Centre.
They’ll be joined by the Pronghorn men, who hit the court for Game 1 of their quarter-final series against the Alberta Golden Bears following the Horns’ 98-65 play-in win over the Victoria Vikes last Friday.
For the women, following their first home playoff game since 1994 and the win that came with it, interim head coach Dave Waknuk feels it’s time for his squad to keep on keeping on as the Horns look to topple the 15-5 Pandas.
“I think it’s been a great week,” said Waknuk. “We came in with great energy from the start. While it’s a short week, the way that I look at it for us is playing with the momentum we’ve been playing with lately, I think it’s good to keep it short. We know what we want to do and what we need to do and I think the way we have been playing the last few days is how we want to continue to go into this series.”
The last time the two teams met in the postseason was in 1986 when the Pronghorns got past the Pandas and ultimately placed third at Nationals in Winnipeg.
That team included current Pronghorn Katie Keith’s mother, Dawn.
Now, this year’s Horns look to make another playoff run.
“I’ve seen their confidence grow,” said Waknuk. “Obviously winning eight of the last nine, I think every week we’ve been becoming more and more confident that way and they brought that energy into practice this week. You can’t hide the fact that this is fun, this is what we wanted to do as a program. This has been a goal for us, so for us to still get to play and play a good team like Alberta and have a great chance in the quarter-final, those are all things that we want and I think the girls are pretty excited about what lies ahead.”
The Pandas own the season series between the teams, having defeated the Pronghorns 6862 and 68-59 Nov. 16-17 in Edmonton.
The Pandas had a bye last weekend after finishing with the fourth-best RPI.
However, the Horns head north this weekend a little older and wiser.
“The one thing that jumps out to me when I go back and look at us playing them in Week 3 is I feel like we have come a long way since then,” said Waknuk. “I think one of the areas we had trouble with them the first time was just defensively. I think they have some outstanding offensive talent that have high basketball IQs. So for us as a team, I think defensive discipline is going to be our key, being able to guard as a team and guard for 40 minutes. They also play great transition. So I think it’s going to be us matching the tempo of the game and really trying to control the pace.”
Pronghorns leading scorer Kacie Bosch scored 12 points both games against the Pandas.
For the Pandas, Emma Kary led the Pandas with 17.2 points per game, ninth best in the Canada West. Vanessa Wild finished second with 15.2 points per game.
The winner of this weekend’s series will play the winner of the series between the topseeded Saskatchewan Huskies and Winnipeg Wesmen, who upset UBC in the play-in game.
On the men’s side, the Pronghorns will contend with the 15-5 Golden Bears.
Last year in the Canada West semifinal, Alberta swept the Pronghorns 2-0 and earned a 2-1 series win in 2017.
The two teams met earlier this season in Edmonton in November with the Golden Bears winning both games 85-72 and 87-74.
The winner of the quarter-final will play the winner of the UBC-Fraser Valley series in one of two Canada West semifinals.