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Weekend series solves nothing between No. 4 Huskies, No. 9 Pandas
Photo Credit: Chris Uhl
by Paul Cartledge, U of Alberta Sports Info Assistant
EDMONTON - Closing out the 2009 half of the conference season, the No. 9 Alberta Pandas split the weekend series against the No. 4 Saskatchewan Huskies, earning a 65-57 loss Saturday night at the U of A's Main Gym.
The Pandas now sit fourth in the Canada West standings with a 6-4 record and two games behind Prairie division leader, the Regina Cougars. The Huskies' victory improves their record to 5-3 to take third in the standings and also sit a couple games behind last season's CIS silver medalists from Regina.
Unlike last night's lead-changing opening quarter, Saskatchewan maintained their lead throughout the first 10 minutes after sinking the game's opening bucket and shot at a 46.7% rate in the paint to take an 18-12 lead.
The Huskies continued their strong shooting into the second stanza and an intercept by Kim Tulloch, who took the ball up the court for a backhand bucket, seemed to push all the momentum in Saskatchewan's favour, but a three-pointer by Alberta's Georgia Popovici inspired a 9-0 run to put the Pandas up 27-24.
The momentum shift returned to the Huskies, however, when a Lauren Whyte trey, her only points in the game aside from going 2 for 2 from the charity stripe, got the score tied and a Mary Hipperson deuce put the visitors ahead 29-27 at the halftime buzzer.
An 11-3 run to open the third, led by Tulloch and two-time CIS All-Canadian Lindsay DeGroot, put the Alberta deficit to double digits and wasn't helped by a number of unsuccessful three-pointers by the Pandas squad as well as an overall 28% shooting percentage from the field.
Down 50-38 at the start of the final quarter, the Pandas shot for 50% in the final 10 minutes, including 3 for 5 from beyond the arc, but the Huskies always managed to stay ahead and a trey by Jill Humbert with about 15 seconds left was the final dagger in the coffin.
Last night's leading scorer, Emily Bolduc, was held pointless in the third quarter, but still managed to finish with a team-high 16 points to give her 37 on the weekend.
Tulloch led all players with 18 points on the night, getting her 34 points in the series to go along with 13 boards. Humbert led all players on the evening, and with a wide margin, with nine assists.
Alberta and Saskatchewan both start 2010 by hosting the same opponents, as the Pandas host Simon Fraser and Trinity Western while the Huskies will entertain them at home in the reverse order.
