VANCOUVER — The quarterfinal round of the U Sports Final 8 women’s basketball national championship on March 13 saw the uOttawa Gee-Gees eliminate the Laval Rouge et Or in the tournament opener. The Ravens then took out the Bishop’s Gaiters in their quarterfinal matchup to trigger a Critelli Cup rematch in the tournament semifinal.
For the remainder of the quarterfinal round, the UBC Thunderbirds beat the Saint Mary’s Huskies 55-50 in a tightly defensive matchup and the top-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies stifled a comeback from Canada West rivals Alberta Pandas for a 67-58 victory.
Quarterfinal 1: uOttawa Gee-Gees 71, Laval Rouge et Or 67
In the matinée tournament opener, the Gee-Gees narrowly avoided an upset in an overtime thriller against Laval, prevailing with a 71-67 win.
Contributing to the Gee-Gees’ success was third-year forward Emily Payne, who stepped up in a big way, and scored a season-high 22 points in the quarterfinal. Payne said the win was special after the team missed out on the tournament last year.
“Last year, March 30, we were practising again, we weren’t in this tournament,” she said. “So everything from now is just so special to us and we’re grateful to be here.”
But uOttawa struggled to contain Laval’s shooting in the first two quarters, which took off for eight three-pointers and offered a different challenge from their usual OUA competition.
In her first national championship experience, uOttawa head coach Rose-Anne Joly instructed her squad to not get “sucked in” by an aggressive Rouge et Or offence, affording their RSEQ opponents space beyond the arc.
“Usually our strength is not to allow shooters wide open, but Laval can shoot it one, two feet behind the three-point line,” Joly said. “That made it tough because we don’t have teams in Ontario that can do that.”
The Gee-Gees crawled back from a 55-49 deficit through the fourth quarter, as Payne scored the layup that ultimately sent the game to overtime, tied at 63 apiece.
In extra time, uOttawa finally found composure, as they suffocated the Laval offence to move onto a semifinal against Carleton, who moved on in the subsequent quarterfinal matchup with a 71-44 victory over the Bishop’s Gaiters.
Payne said the Gee-Gees made a goal of beating their crosstown rivals twice this season. After the OUA final, they’re halfway there.
“This gives us an opportunity to reach our goal to beat them twice,” Payne said. “And then to beat them on that stage, I think that would be pretty special for us.”
Quarterfinal 2: Carleton Ravens 71, Bishop’s Gaiters 44
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Quarterfinal 3: UBC Thunderbirds 55, Saint Mary’s Huskies 50
In front of their home crowd, the UBC Thunderbirds upset the Atlantic University Sports (AUS) champion Saint Mary’s Huskies, sending the hosts to the semifinals for a chance at a podium finish.
UBC head coach Isabel Ormond found the words to describe the rarity of the occasion the Thunderbirds have ahead of them.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Ormond said. “So find the moment that you can take that breath.”
The Huskies dominated the first quarter, opting to shoot from beyond the arc and were rewarded with a 20-15 lead. Saint Mary’s sank four of 12 three-point attempts in the first quarter.
“[You] just can’t let a team take that many [shots], because what happens is whether they hit them or not at the start of the game, statistically some are gonna go in if they keep firing,” Ormond said.
In total, the Huskies attempted 37 shots from three-point distance compared to UBC’s 14, but they only sank three outside of the first quarter.
The Thunderbirds smothered the Saint Mary’s offence in the second quarter, holding them to just five points as they swung momentum for a 29-25 lead into halftime. The Huskies completed none of their nine attempts from three, further sinking the visitors.
After a resurgence of the Huskies offence through the third quarter, Thunderbirds guard Jessica Clark — a fifth-year transfer from Washington State University — sank a buzzer-beater to revive UBC’s advantage.
Clarke was awarded player of the game for the Thunderbirds, dominating both sides of the ball with her 6-foot-4 frame.
The Thunderbirds started the fourth quarter up 40-38 and never looked back as their lead slowly stacked up against the visitors, moving onto the semifinals by a final score of 55-50.
With the win over Saint Mary’s, the Thunderbirds will face the Saskatchewan Huskies in the semifinals on March 15, the top seed in the tournament and last year’s runner-ups. UBC is well-acquainted with Saskatchewan, who beat them in the Canada West final just last week.
On top of their deadly offence, Saskatchewan boasts U Sports player of the year guard Gage Grassick, who promises to be the greatest on-court challenge for the host side. She racked up 31 points against UBC in the Canada West final.
“Gage is having a great year, player of the year,” Clarke said on dealing with Saskatchewan’s top guard. “She kind of killed us in our last game so really just locking in on what we need to do with her and stay focused.”
Quarterfinal 4: Saskatchewan Huskies 67, Alberta Pandas 58
The No. 1 seed Saskatchewan Huskies capped off the quarterfinal round with a 67-58 win over the Alberta Pandas, booking a rematch of the Canada West final with the UBC Thunderbirds.
Powered all season by star Gage Grassick, Saskatchewan leaned on its depth this time to advance to the semifinals. Along with Grassick’s 11 points, Téa DeMong (19) and Courtney Primeau (11) also recorded double-digit point totals.
The Canada West champions roared out of the gate with a dominant 11-0 run, taking a 20-6 chokehold by the end of the first quarter. DeMong and Primeau were front and centre, with Primeau earning player of the game honours. But head coach Lisa Thomaidis didn’t feel her team lived up to its typical offensive standards.
“That was a rough one, for sure,” she said. “We started out really well, just couldn’t blow it open … They kept fighting back.”
Alberta outscored the Huskies for the remaining three quarters 52-47, and Annacy Palmer and Kiah Easton-Ihediohanma drained multiple late-game three-pointers to keep things interesting, but it was too little too late.
The Pandas’ only two blemishes on its 18-2 regular season record this season were a pair of losses to the Huskies in November. The same obstacle denied them a third time, with hopes of their first national championship since 2007 having circled the drain.
With the host Thunderbirds awaiting on March 15, the Huskies will look to rekindle their massive offensive prowess after it didn’t fully materialize against Alberta. Saskatchewan got rocked from behind the free-throw line, sinking just 59.4 per cent of its one-point chances compared to Alberta’s 89.5 per cent.
“We were cold from the three-point line, we didn’t shoot it well from the free-throw line, but our defense, that’s what we kind of hang our hat on and that came through for us tonight,” Thomaidis said.
And if Grassick emerges as the presence that earned her U Sports player of the year honours, UBC might have nowhere to hide.
Featured photo by Owen Spillios-Hunter / The Charlatan.
