Road to the Bronze Baby (Part 5): Regionals less than two weeks away

OTTAWA (CIS) – Only two weeks away from the start of the CIS women’s basketball championship things have become much more clear with each conference now finished with its regular season and into the playoffs.

The biggest news of the past week comes from Canada West as the University of the Fraser Valley (12-12) continued their winning streak and upset the second highest-ranked team in the conference, Winnipeg, in two straight games to move onto the semifinals. Winnipeg will now compete as CWUAA 5 in the East Regional.

The Cascades streak faces a tough challenge this week going up against the CIS top-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies (22-2), who dispatched Calgary (10-14) two games to none over the weekend. Regina (19-5) and Alberta (17-7) will face each other after wins over Victoria (15-9) and UBC (17-7) respectively.

OUA playoff action also began last week and is now down to six teams competing for a spot in the CIS Final 8.

Windsor (20-2) and Carleton (18-4) won their respective divisions and will play for the OUA championship this Saturday in Windsor. The teams they beat to get to the OUA final, Laurier (15-7) and Toronto (18-4), are also in action on Saturday for the OUA bronze medal and to determine which Round 1 Regional the teams will attend. Playing for fifth place in the OUA, and the final dedicated OUA spot in the Round 1 Regionals, will be Western (19-3) and Ottawa (14-8).

In the AUS, Cape Breton (16-4) took advantage of a pair of four-point victories over UPEI (0-20) and UNB (14-6) to claim first place heading into the AUS championship. UNB finished in second place to claim the other bye directly to an AUS semifinal game. Rounding out the AUS championship will be Saint Mary’s (8-12) against StFX (14-6) in one quarter-final while the other sees Acadia (11-9) take on host Memorial (12-8).

In Quebec, RSEQ’s final regular season weekend was a big one for UQAM (10-6) handing McGill (13-3) only their third loss of the season and defeating Laval (5-11), both in overtime, to clinch second place. The Citadins now host Concordia (9-7) in the semifinals while McGill plays host to the Rouge et Or.

What’s it all mean?

If the season ended today and each team kept their current ranking through their respective conference playoffs, here’s what the CIS women’s basketball championship would look like:

NOTE: Seeding did not factor in any conference tiebreakers. If Windsor wins the OUA Championship they take the OUA Champion slot at the Final 8 and the Host slot will be awarded to an At-Large Berth, selected from teams that participated in the Round 1 Regionals. Should Windsor finish second, the OUA third place team becomes the host of the Central Regional and the sixth place team competes as OUA 5. Positions for Canada West were determined using the remaining playoff teams and their place in regular season standings.

AUS Champion: Cape Breton
RSEQ Champion: McGill
OUA Champion: Windsor or Carleton
CWUAA Champion: Saskatchewan
CIS Final 8 Host/At-Large Berth: TBD

The Round 1 Regional events would then shape up as follows:

East Regional
Host/AUS 2: UNB
OUA 3: Toronto or Laurier
CWUAA 4: UFV
OUA 5: Western or Ottawa

Central Regional
Host/OUA 2: Carleton or winner of Toronto vs. Laurier
CWUAA 3: Alberta
AUS 3: StFX
CWUAA 5: Winnipeg

West Regional
Host/CWUAA 2: Regina
RSEQ 2: UQAM
OUA 4: Toronto or Laurier
At Large Berth: Selected by committee (must have competed in their conference playoffs)

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