Upbeat Spartans ready for Huskies
Trinity Western hopes to build off win in Saskatoon last month as playoffs progress
Recent history is at least in the Trinity Western Spartans’ favour as they move on in the Canada West women’s basketball playoffs.
Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul’s Spartans split with the Saskatchewan Huskies in their weekend twin bill in Saskatoon a month ago, winning the Friday matchup 69-68 before falling 82-64 in the Saturday followup game.
It was just the first win in program history for the Spartans in 11 games in Saskatoon. The Huskies are 17-4 all-time against Trinity Western since the Spartans moved into Canada West for the 1999-00 season.
The teams open a best-of-three semifinal series in Saskatoon on Thursday (5 p.m.) at the Physical Activity Complex. Game 2 is there Friday (5 p.m.), while a third game, if necessary, would be there Saturday (5 p.m.).
The No. 3-seeded Spartans advanced to this round with a quarter-final sweep of the No. 6 Alberta Pandas last week, winning 62-53 and 70-64. Trinity Western has won six straight dating back to the regular season.
The No. 2-seeded Huskies needed three games to get past the No. 7 Winnipeg Wesmen in the quarter-finals. They took the deciding match 97-64. They lost Game 2 by 93-85, after winning the opener, 76-58.
“They’re going to be tough,” Saskatchewan coach Lisa Thomaidis told Postmedia News when asked about the Spartans. “They play with a lot of tempo. I saw them play against Alberta and their bigs are very athletic and mobile, and their guards move the ball around very quickly and they get you running around with rotations. We’re going to have to be very disciplined and we have to do a better job defensively.”
Saskatchewan is No. 7 in the U Sports national rankings, Trinity Western No. 9.
Saskatchewan (17-3) finished just ahead of Trinity Western (16-4) in points in the regular season, and just behind the Regina Cougars (18-2). The playoff seedings in Canada West are done according to rating percentage index, a formula that takes into account strength of schedule, and the teams wound up in the identical three spots there, too.
The UVic Vikes (16-4) tied the Spartans in terms of record, but were seeded No. 5, behind the Calgary Dinos (15-5) via the RPI.
Calgary beat Victoria in two straight games in the quarter-finals, winning 105-49 and 80-61, and will now visit Regina for a best-of-three series beginning Thursday. Regina beat the No. 8 UBC Thunderbirds 85-70 and 71-62 in the quarter-finals.