CALGARY - Three members of the University of Calgary basketball teams will play their final home games this weekend as the Dinos entertain Pacific Division foes Simon Fraser and Trinity Western.
Courtney Coyle and Whitney Haswell will cap off their long careers in the Jack Saturday night for the Dinos women, while Henry Bekkering wraps up his short but illustrious career with Calgary. It won't be Bekkering's last game at home with the playoffs on the horizon, but Haswell and Coyle along with their teammates have a big hill to climb if they want to see home court one more time.
The Dinos women sit four games back of the Alberta Pandas for second place in the division with six games to play. While Calgary is certainly likely to make the playoffs, currently holding a four-game lead over Lethbridge, home-court advantage is slipping away as the schedule winds down. A Saturday night loss at Lethbridge last weekend certainly hurt their chances of finishing second, and the schedule is no friend of the Dinos down the stretch.
On the horizon are two straight road trips, first to No. 6 Victoria and defending national champion UBC, followed by a two-game set against the Pandas in Edmonton. That divisional match-up may end up as meaningless for the Dinos in the standings before then, however, as they face two of the hottest teams in the conference at home this weekend in Simon Fraser and Trinity Western.
The SFU Clan is on a mission this year. After being ranked No. 1 all season a year ago, the Clan fell in the national quarterfinal as the eighth-seeded Laval Rouge et Or pulled off a monstrous upset with a 71-68 win. Determined not to let that happen again, the Clan has steamrolled through Canada West so far this year, dropping just one game – a 57-56 decision on the road at Victoria. Simon Fraser's offence is scoring at a clip of 79.6 points per game, nearly nine points better than second-place Regina (71.1) and third place Calgary (70.9), and the Dinos will need their best defensive effort of the season against the top-ranked Clan.
Offence will be a concern for the Dinos too, with Simon Fraser holding its opponents to under 60 points on average so far this year.
Three of the top four scorers in the conference will be on the floor Friday night in Calgary's Ashley Hill (16.1 ppg) along with Laurelle Weigl (15.5) and Robyn Buna (14.2) of the Clan. SFU point guard Courtney Gerwing leads Canada West in assists, while Hill and Buna are one-two in the conference in three-point field goals made. Hill had a career night last Friday in Lethbridge, potting 37 big points on 11-of-21 shooting, including 6-of-12 from three-point land.
Saturday, the Dinos face a Trinity Western team on the rise in Canada West. At 10-7 on the year, the Spartans have already set a school record for most wins in a season, and third-year head coach Kerby Court has his team into the playoffs with six games left to play.
The Spartans have scored big wins already this season over Saskatchewan and Regina, and they will look to improve on a tight one-point win at home over last place Thompson Rivers last weekend.
Fourth-year guard Laura Craig is the main offensive threat for Trinity Western, but the Spartans are well in the bottom half of the conference when it comes to scoring, averaging just over 61 points a night. Their defence is better, ranked sixth in the league. On paper the Dinos and Spartans seem to match up well, and the Dinos desperately need at least one win this weekend to keep the dream of home-court advantage alive.
On the men's side, Calgary has all but clinched the Central Division pennant after sweeping Lethbridge last weekend. The Dinos' magic number is down to one – so any one win or any one Alberta loss in the last six games gives the Dinos the division title.
With a first-round bye all but secured, the Dinos can use their last three weekends to build up to the post season, where they hope to avoid a Final Four setback à la 2008. Calgary faces five quality opponents to end the season, including four straight games on the road after this week.
While the marquee game in the conference this season will be the Dinos-UBC match-up next week in Vancouver, Calgary does get a taste of Pacific Division hoops in hosting Simon Fraser and Trinity Western – two stiff tests for the No. 4 Dinos. Simon Fraser was one of just four teams to beat the Dinos last season – an early season wake-up call on Burnaby Mountain for Calgary – and they enter the weekend at 10-7, sitting fourth in their division.
Led by all-star forward Greg Wallis, who sits sixth in the conference in scoring (19.5 ppg), the Simon Fraser is a dangerous team that will capitalize on Calgary mistakes. Fourth-year guard Sean Burke (11.9 ppg) and forward Matt Kuzminski (15.8 ppg) also contribute to a balanced Clan offence.
On paper, the Dinos hold the edge statistically, scoring more, allowing fewer points, shooting more accurately, and rebounding at a much higher clip. Calgary leads Canada West in both field goal percentage (.473) and field goal defence (opponents shooting an average of .362).
Saturday's match-up has the makings of a classic as Trinity Western, winners of nine straight, make their bi-annual appearance in the Jack. Ross Bekkering and Jacob Doerksen, the top two rebounders in the conference, will go head-to-head down low in this possible conference semi-final preview. Doerksen, who considered joining the Dinos before ultimately transferring to the Spartans from Victoria, is second in the conference in scoring (21.4 ppg) and a workhorse, averaging nearly 37 minutes a night. Amazingly, he has picked up just 36 personal fouls in 15 games for the Spartans, though he did foul out twice – at UBC and Alberta – and Trinity Western lost both games.
Jamie Vaughan (14.3) and Brian Banman (11.8) trail Doerksen in the team scoring race, while Louis Hurd is becoming a solid outside shooter, averaging two and a half three-point buckets per night.
Henry Bekkering, who returned to the line-up last weekend in Lethbridge after sitting out four straight conference games, could well be the x-factor against the Clan and Spartans this weekend. He potted 51 points in two games against the 'Horns, and he will continue to be a match-up nightmare for both opponents this weekend in his final regular season home games.
The Dinos men are very likely to be back in the Jack one more time this season, and one win this weekend would clinch top spot and the right to host the Division Final. That best-of-three series would go the weekend of Feb. 19-22.
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