Horns women off to final-four
The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s basketball team is bound for the Canada West final-four.
The Pronghorns topped the Alberta Pandas 67-60 in Game 2 of the teams’ bestof-three quarter-final Friday night in Edmonton to sweep their higher-ranked opponent 2-0.
For that, the Horns head back to the final-four for the first time since the 1994-95 season when they lost 2-0 to the Victoria Vikes.
On Friday night, however, it was a white-knuckled ride to the final buzzer as the Pandas made a furious push in the fourth quarter.
With the Pronghorns up 55-39 after the third quarter, the Pandas poured in 21 points compared to the Horns 12 to close within single digits, but their comeback bid to force Game 3 fell short and now Lethbridge is off to the Canada West semifinals for the first time since 1995.
Still, pulses still had to slow down a bit post-game Friday night.
“You know that when you’re playing a quality team like the University of Alberta that they’re going to come with a charge,” said Pronghorns interim head coach Dave Waknuk. “We got off to a great start. We’ve been talking about quality of starts all year and we had another good one. But we knew they were going to push in with that much talent, it was coming. The fourth quarter was a battle and it was a grind it was a word our players use a lot: ‘We have to grind this one out,’ and it was definitely a grind. But a credit to the team on the floor, the composure they showed. We just had to really dig in and guard tough. We made big plays when we had to and got contributions from people when we needed it. So it was a total team effort. This whole series was a total team effort, but the last quarter was also a team effort.”
Pronghorn Katie Keith led the way with the doubledouble on 21 points and 15 rebounds as well as four steals and three assists, while Asnate Fomina put up 17 points and six assists.
Kacie Bosch topped the 10-point mark with 11.
“They guarded a lot more physical and it was tougher for us to get the same looks that we got last night,” said Waknuk. “So we had to work harder for our looks and I think it was really digging in and finding that composure to find those great looks on offence.
But at half time up 12 felt somewhat similar to last night. We built on that lead a little bit in the third and then in the fourth quarter they kept coming.”
The Pronghorns now await the winner of the Saskatchewan Huskies/Winnipeg Wesmen series. On Friday, however, Waknuk told his chargers to enjoy the moment. “What I told them is they deserve what they got,” he said. “They put the work in and believed every step of the way. This hasn't been a quick or easy path to get here and it’s taken a lot to get here. We’ve been through a lot this year and we get to keep playing basketball. Everybody in that room deserves this win because of the commitment they have made. For us to be winning 10 of the last 11, we’re going to keep riding this wave. We know we have a big challenge ahead but I urged everyone to be proud and take a minute to really savour it, because this is a big deal for our program and well earned by everybody in it.” In the men’s game, the Alberta Golden Bears have forced Game 3 tonight with an 86-70 win over the Pronghorns.
Mike Pierzchala led the Horns with 21 points, but the Golden Bears never trailed on a night when Lethbridge shot just 30.4 per cent from the field.
Pierzchala also had 13 rebounds in the loss and Zac Overwater had 12. Kyle Peterson added 14 points and eight assists for the Pronghorns.
The deciding game goes tonight at 7 p.m. in Edmonton.