The University of Alberta Pandas defeats the Saint Mary’s University (SMU) Huskies 64-46 in the 2023 U Sports final 8 women’s basketball bronze medal game.
The game for third place saw a back and forth contest where Alberta would pull away, hoping to create an insurmountable lead, but Saint Mary’s would follow up with a scoring run, keeping the game close.
That was until the latter end of the match, when SMU had to battle against Alberta and the clock.
SMU struggled from the field today. The team shot 25.7 per cent, making 19 of their 74 attempts from field goal range. For comparison, Alberta shot 15 per cent better, making 25 of their 62 shots.
To put it in simpler terms, “the shots just weren’t falling,” according to Huskies assistant coach Kevin Churchill.
“We had a hard time getting shots at the rim, and we shot really poorly from three,” Churchill said. “The bounces didn’t go the right way … It’s just one of those days.”
Churchill added the absence of star guard Clara Gascoigne, who was injured in yesterday’s semifinal, was a missing piece for the team. In Gascoigne’s absence, the team relied heavily on guard Alaina McMillan.
But McMillan had a poor shooting night as well. While she shot six of 18 from the field, she only made one of her nine attempts from beyond the arc.
“We run a lot of offensive through [McMillan], she’s the best shooter on our team,” Churchill said. “We feel good with the ball in her hand, we feel good with her taking shots. It just didn’t fall today.”
Alberta dominated the paint. Led by 11 rebounds from defensive player of the year Claire Signatovich, the Pandas outscored the Huskies 24 to 16 and out rebounded them 38 to 34. They also blocked SMU eight times, while SMU didn’t have one block the entire game.
Alberta’s paint performance was coupled by another big night from guard Jenna Harpe. She scored 19 points, shooting just under 50 per cent from the field. While star guard Emma Kary continued to struggle from the field, shooting 22 per cent, she was able to contribute 11 points and eight rebounds.
It was enough for the Pandas though. Between Kary’s 11 points, Harpe’s leading performance and 15 bench points, Alberta claimed the bronze medal in style as the 18-point win is the second largest of the tournament.
Featured image by Jayden R. Dill.
