KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Despite combining with their foes for 65 turnovers on the night, the University of Calgary Dinos opened their 2009-10 season with an 85-72 win over the host Thompson Rivers University WolfPack to open the BDO Dunwoody invitational tournament in Kamloops.

“As a coach, you can't wait to see what your team looks like even though it's early,” said Dinos coach Shawnee Harle, who enters her 16th season at the helm of her program. “I was pleasantly surprised.  Wins and losses are unimportant at this stage. This is where you find out what your team will be like and what they need to do to get better.”

The Dinos had 28 turnovers compared to 37 for the 'Pack.

“That's a communication thing,” stated TRU head coach Scott Reeves. “To build trust is a huge thing.  If you don't trust who is behind you then there will be holes in your defence. A team like Calgary can exploit that”.

The Dinos led 24-15 after the first quarter, but TRU cut the margin to 40-32 after outscoring them 17-16.

At one point in the second half, the WolfPack had reduced the Calgary lead to a single bucket.  But then the Dinos turned it on, going on a 9-2 run to lead 72-55 at three quarters.

The Dinos were led by second-year forward Alex Cole, who had 20 points. Megan Lang and Ashley Hill each had 15 points. Cole also had a team high seven boards, four on offence.

TRU came out strong in the second quarter thanks to some timely baskets courtesy of their new point guard, Jen Ju. The transfer from Santa Barbara Community College wound up with a team high 16 points, 12 of them coming in the second half. Kali Ellis, Kaitlyn Widsten, and Tracy Kocs all had 12 points. Ellis had a team high 10 rebounds, eight of them on defence.

“It was unfortunate that she picked up those two quick fouls and we had to pull her off,” Reeves explained. “That put us behind the eight ball because if this team doesn't trust each other, they do trust Jen bringing the ball up the floor.  If she isn't there to do that, it becomes who else is going to step up.”

Harle felt that her young squad, which was injury depleted and dressed just nine players, responded well.

“I wasn't sure how they would do in a real game," she said. "I thought they did a lot of things well. The habits that we have been working on in practice showed up tonight.”

The Dinos play the UBC-Okanagan Heat in their second game of the tournament Saturday at 6 p.m. MT.

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