Women’s Basketball: Cascades drop two-point decision to Dinos in preseason finale
The University of the Fraser Valley women’s basketball team wrapped up the preseason with a 53-51 road loss to the Calgary Dinos on Sunday afternoon.
The Cascades built a 30-18 lead at halftime and maintained a 10-point advantage heading to the fourth quarter, but the Dinos outscored them 17-5 in the final frame to claw out the two-point win.
“I thought we were really good for the majority of the game, with a lot of real positive steps forward,” UFV head coach Al Tuchscherer said. “Our defence was really tight which was exciting to see, and offensively we were getting some good looks. Now we’ve just got to learn to bring a game home. That’s a whole different step. We gave ourselves an opportunity, we just didn’t get it done.”
Sunday’s game was a rematch of last season’s Canada West first-round playoff series, which saw the Cascades eliminate the Dinos two games to one in the best-of-three.
UFV controlled most of Sunday’s exhibition, but Dinos ended the game on a 12-0 run, taking their first lead on Briana Ghali’s three-pointer with 47 seconds left. The Cascades had a chance to win in the dying seconds, but Amanda Thompson’s shot from beyond the arc fell short and Jessica Zawada’s putback attempt through contact didn’t draw a whistle.
Shayna Litman had another big game for UFV. One night after racking up 26 points against the Alberta Pandas, the fifth-year forward matched that total against the Dinos in exceedingly efficient fashion (8-for-11 from the field, 10-for-11 from the free throw line) and added 11 rebounds for a double-double.
Taylor Claggett chipped in with seven points and nine boards, and Sara Simovic posted six points, five boards and three assists.
Erin McIntosh paced the Dinos with 14 points, and Ghali scored 13.
The Cascades were the more efficient team shooting the ball, hitting 34.8 per cent of their attempts from the field compared to 25.7 for the Dinos. But the hosts won the turnover battle, giving away the ball just 16 times to UFV’s 26.
The UFV basketball teams open the Canada West regular season this coming weekend (Oct. 27-28) at UBC, and host their home openers Nov. 3-4 vs. the Mount Royal Cougars.
Men’s Basketball: Cascades conclude preseason at stateside exhibition tourney
The University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team closed out its preseason schedule with a pair of exhibition losses to stateside opponents on the weekend.
The Cascades were participating in an exhibition tournament hosted by Northwest University of Kirkland, Wash. On Friday, they dropped a 97-82 decision to the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers, and on Saturday they fell 95-64 to the host Northwest Eagles. Eastern Oregon and Northwest are both NAIA programs.
“Not the results we wanted, but the guys are competing hard, playing aggressive and eager to learn from our mistakes,” Cascades head coach Adam Friesen said.
On Friday, UFV trailed Eastern Oregon by 16 points (54-38) at halftime, but outscored their opponent in the second half (44-43). The Cascades got a terrific outing from redshirt freshman guard Sagar Dulay, who went 6-for-12 from beyond the arc on his way to a team-high 20 points. Suhkman Sandhu came off the bench for 13 points in 17 minutes, and Vick Toor (10 points) and Riley Braich (nine points) also chipped in offensively. Matt Cooley notched a team-high six assists. Jordan May poured in a game-high 32 points for the Mountaineers.
On Saturday, the Cascades were within striking distance at the break, trailing 49-39, but the Eagles pulled away in the second half. Northwest limited UFV to 29.4 per cent shooting from the field over the last 20 minutes of the game.
Daniel Adediran posted 12 points and seven rebounds, both team-high totals, and Sandhu registered 11 points and five boards. Alex Smith, with 20 points, paced the Eagles offensively.
The UFV basketball teams open the Canada West regular season this coming weekend (Oct. 27-28) at UBC, and host their home openers Nov. 3-4 vs. the Mount Royal Cougars.
