Vikes in Calgary for basketball showdown

There’s not much to choose between the University of Victoria Vikes women’s basketball team and their Canada West quarter-final opponent, the Calgary Dinos.

The Dinos get to host the best-of-three series starting today in Calgary because of the slightest of edges in the Ratings Performance Index (used to determine strengths of schedules). Calgary, which finished 15-5 in the regular season, had a .0019 RPI advantage over the 16-4 Vikes.

The Vikes come into Game 1 riding a Canada West-best 13-game winning streak.

The Dinos, who had a first-round bye, haven’t lost in seven games.

And in case you were thinking the head-tohead matchup during the season would be a good indication of what’s to come, the two teams didn’t face one another in the regular season.

They did, however, square off back in October in a preseason game, which the Dinos won 73-59.

“We played them early on, but both teams have changed a lot since then,” Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair said in a statement after her club easily disposed of the Fraser Valley Cascades in last weekend’s play-in game.

“They have some new players since then so there’s no real familiarity between the two teams.

“So it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out.”

If the Vikes are to advance out of this series and set up a likely date with the top-ranked Regina Cougars in the Canada West semifinals, UVic will need sharpshooters Amira Giannattasio and Kristy Gallagher to continue their hot hands. The two led the team in scoring, averaging 17.9 and 17.8 points per game.

The Dinos are led by a pair of senior guards in Brianna Ghali and Shannon Hatch, who averaged 14.8 and 11.4 points per game.

“They are athletic and they like to pressure a lot,” Sinclair said.

Today’s game tips off at 5 p.m. PST. Game 2 goes Saturday at 4 p.m. PST, and Game 3, if necessary, is set for noon PST on Sunday.