CIS women's basketball Saturday roundup: No. 8 Alberta with big win over No. 2 Regina

"It was a tough game for us; they did a really good job at zone defense," said head coach Mike Clarke. "We shot the ball very poorly and really, really struggled to score. They guarded our personnel well, so full marks to them; they had a smart game plan and stuck to it."

The Lady Vees, despite their low shooting percentage of 28.3% managed to keep the game close for the first quarter. York started to pull away in the second, extending their lead to 11 points with the help of strong shooting from beyond the arc and would never look back.

The story of the game was definitely the poor shooting from the Laurentian team, who did not seem to be able to get into any sort of offensive groove. They were also unsuccessful from the free-throw line, converting only 47.6% of their attempts. To add to this, they recorded 20 turnovers, double the total of the Lions' team.

The third quarter then saw the Lions apply a lot of pressure, and unfortunately, with the continued low field goal percentage and costly turnovers, Laurentian was unable to contain them. Led by Emily Perras (Lindsay, ON), who scored 19 total points, York had opened up a 19 point lead by now that they clearly would not be relinquishing.

Of note for Laurentian were Katie Goggins (Hanmer, ON) and Lisa Furchner (Sudbury, ON) who had strong games. Katie scored a game-high 20 points in the loss, and in the fourth quarter had her 500th rebound. This, coupled with the strong final quarter by the Lady Vees narrowed the deficit; however, it was not enough, as they fell to the Lions by 13 points. Furchner, for her part, finished with 15 points and 17 rebounds and in the second quarter registered her 1000th CIS point.

This is the last game for the Lady Vees before the Holidays, as they look to regroup and improve their 1-8 record in the New Year. The Vees, however, will make a visit to Davenport University (Michigan, USA) to play in the Daemon College Tournament December 20 and 21. Continue to follow your Lady Vees online at www.luvoyageurs.com

Source: Eric Lachapelle Laurentian Sports Info

The conference's best offence was led Saturday night, at the U of A's Main Gym, by Ottawa, ON native Anneka Bakker, putting 20 points on the board and going 8-9 at the charity stripe. Marisa Haylett added 15 points of her own, Katie Arbuthnot and Nicole Clarke contributed 11 each, and Georgia Popovici rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10.

Joanna Zalesiak, Canada West's second leading scorer, had a game-high 25 points for Regina.

The second-best offence in the conference had a hard time scoring in the first quarter, as the Cougars only hit one trey and put up five field goals on 12 attempts. Draining twice as many as the road team inside the key, the Pandas also doubled up on the Cougars on the scoreboard, leading 24-12 after 10 minutes.

In the next five minutes, however, a 14-4 run spearheaded by Zalesiak got the visitors within two but a multi-pronged Alberta attack gave the home squad their own 14-4 run to restore the 12-point lead before a couple of Zalesiak free throws made the score 42-32 Alberta at the half.

The run-and-gun affair continued in the third quarter and well into the final frame, with the Pandas always having an answer to the Regina offense, which only mustered eight points in the fourth quarter.

Contending against the best glass cleaners in Canada West, Alberta notched 10 defensive boards in the last 10 minutes and cemented the win when Edmonton native Popovici fed a slick, thread-the-needle pass into the paint to Canada West Athlete of the Week, Nicole Clarke, who sunk the basket for a 77-58 lead with 1:39 left to go.

The Pandas and Cougars finish the first half of the 2010-11 season tied for first place in the Canada West conference standings with identical 10-2 records. Not meeting again during the 2011 half, the season series stands at 1-1.

Source: Alberta Sports Info