UVic women seek hoops revenge on T-Birds
Even amidst personal glory, every athlete in a team sport knows it’s the scoreboard that counts most.
That’s what tempers University of Victoria Vikes star Amira Giannattasio’s franchise recordsetting 44-point performance in Thursday night’s triple-overtime 113-108 women’s basketball Canada West loss to the UBC Thunderbirds at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver.
“It sucks that we lost because we played so hard,” said Giannattasio.
“[The record] is rewarding but it would have felt better if we had won.”
Giannattasio’s performance eclipsed the former Vikes record of 42 points scored by UVic legend and two-time Olympian Carol Turney-Loos in 1978 against the Saskatchewan Huskies. Turney-Loos, however, scored her 42 points in regulation time.
“That’s a credit to [TurneyLoos] and her career,” said Giannattasio. “It’s great to be part of that legacy.”
Giannattasio’s was the fourthhighest single-game women’s hoops points total in Canada West history behind former Calgary Dino Meagan Koch’s 49 points in 1996, Koch’s 45 points in 1995, and former SFU star and two-time Olympian Teresa Kleindienst’s 45 in 2002.
The Vikes and Thunderbirds (both 2-1) continue their Canada West rivalry today at 6 p.m. on Ken and Kathy Shields Court in the CARSA gym.
“These games have always been close and we’ve gone to overtime against UBC before, once double overtime, but I’ve never been in a triple OT game before in my career,” said Giannattasio.
To make the exhausting night even longer, the length of the game Thursday night made the Vikes miss the last ferry to Swartz Bay, so they had to come home on the last ferry to Nanaimo and then drive down-Island. The tired Vikes could be excused Friday for eschewing practice in favour of a video session.
“We want to get the win [tonight] and we want to do it in regulation time. No more overtimes,” said Giannattasio, with a chuckle.
The key, she said, is team defence.
“Clearly, we can score,” said Giannattasio, the fifth-year standout from Hamilton, Ont., who is seventh all-time in Vikes career scoring.
“We have to focus on our defence.”
Meanwhile, the Vikes men’s team (1-2) takes on the U Sports nationally ranked No. 6 UBC Thunderbirds (2-1) tonight at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver.
The Thunderbirds defeated the Vikes 89-63 on Thursday evening in CARSA gym. • UVIC FIELD HOCKEY: Junior national team player Erin Dawson scored twice to give the UVic Vikes a 2-1 victory Friday in Toronto over the York Lions in Game 1 of the best-of-three U Sports women’s national field hockey championship final.
“Our team focus was doing things collectively,” said UVic head coach Lynne Beecroft, the former Olympian who is now one win away from her 12th national title in her 35 years at the Vikes helm.
“We scored the first goal, which settled us down a bit. We showed a lot of resiliency and I think that some of the kids really just got what they needed to get done, done.”
Game 2 is today and Game 3, if necessary, will be played Sunday.