Vikes men can’t take the Heat, but women start strong

Shockers don’t come much bigger than this in Canada West men’s basketball.

Aldrich Barrios scored a basket with one second remaining to give the UBC-Okanagan Heat a 73-72 season-opening victory over the University of Victoria Vikes on Friday night at CARSA gym.

Lowly UBC-O was only 2-18 last season and has never made the playoffs since entering Canada West in 2011-12.

The Vikes have only themselves to blame for the loss with sloppy early shooting and a lax defence as UBC-O led 39-31 at the half and by 10 points at three-quarters time. Three threepointers by sophomore guard Scott Kellum, last season’s Canada West rookie of the year, put UVic ahead late. But the feisty upstarts from Kelowna had the answer at the buzzer.

The Vikes were 9-11 last season and a playoff team.

It was a happier outcome for the hosts in the women’s Canada West opener as the Vikes rode Kristy Gallagher’s shooting touch to a 64-54 victory as the Parkland Secondary graduate went sevenfor-11 from the field in a 20-point performance.

Gallagher, however, deflected credit to the depth of a Vikes team in which all 12 players saw floor time on opening night.

“We subbed in and our depth was a big plus for us,” said Gallagher.

Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair also touched on that aspect of her squad.

“I look down the bench and I can go to any one of those 12 players,” said Sinclair. “We will be able to use that depth all season.”

That leaves the Vikes with several options on both sides of the ball.

“We are going to score by committee this season,” said Gallagher.

If so, a big committee member looks to be Katie Langdon, the sixfoot-two forward from Owen Sound, Ont., who put in 12 points.

It appears as if third-year player Langdon’s emergence will help mitigate the loss of graduated forwards Jenna Bugiardini and Nicole Karstein.

“[Langdon] was a force on offence for us and she set the tone early going down low for the ball,” said Sinclair.

Gallagher noted there was so much UBC-O defensive pressure on UVic’s outside shooters that she was “looking to pass the ball inside even more than I was last season.”

Fourth-year guard Amira Giannattasio and rookie wing-player Ashlyn Day scored nine points each for UVic and veteran guard Morgan Roskelly of Victoria seven points. Gallagher also led the Vikes in rebounding with seven while Marissa Dheensaw pulled down six and Langdon five.

Shenelle Tamminen led UBC-O with 12 points.

The Vikes did not trail in the game.

“We didn’t let them get momentum, and our defence was also important in that regard,” said Gallagher.

“We set the tone defensively but our defence could also be much better.”

The UVic and UBC-O teams meet again today at CARSA with the women’s game at 5 p.m. and the men’s at 7 p.m.