CALGARY – The young Calgary Dinos looked down and out midway through the third quarter but made a game of it and came up just short, falling to the Alberta Pandas 67-65 Friday night in a raucous Jack Simpson Gym.

BOX SCORE

The Dinos, with seven of the nine players dressed in just their first or second year of eligibility, trailed by as many as 16 with four minutes left in the third quarter, having scored just one point in the second half. But Calgary put up nine points in the final four minutes of the quarter, then mounted an impressive comeback to set the stage for a classic finish.

After the Dinos had whittled down the Alberta lead to just five, the visitors again opened up a nine-point advantage. As the clock ticked below two minutes, Calgary point guard Megan Schaufele connected on her only three-point attempt of the night to make it a six-point game. With less than 60 seconds to go, the lead was again up to eight before Ashley Hill and Tamara Jarrett made back-to-back treys to pull within just two.

With the crowd in a frenzy, Hill got a stole the ball from the Pandas' Caitlin Stiksma and passed to Ettinger, whose three-point try bounced out short. Calgary then got another steal, this time from Jarrett, but a lay-up try by Megan Lang wouldn't fall, forcing the Dinos to foul. Kaitlin Arbuthnot missed both free throws to give Calgary yet another chance with four seconds to play, but a desperation attempt came after the buzzer as the Pandas held on for the two-point victory after being held scoreless on their last five possessions of the game.

“It's too bad that someone has to lose that game,” said Calgary head coach Shawnee Harle. “We were close, but that only counts in horseshoes and surgery.  I really can't ask for anything more. We had two shots to tie it up at the end of the game, and as a coach, that's great. We have young kids that are playing far beyond their years, and they're giving everything we have.”

In any game decided by as few as two points, any number of single moments in the contest could flip the outcome. For Calgary, the slow offensive start to the second half coupled with free throw shooting of just 50 per cent (12-24) proved the difference in the game.

“Our free throw shooting was, frankly, pathetic,” said Harle. “But the good news is, we're getting to the line, we just need to put those points up when we have the chance.”

For the first 26 minutes of action, it looked every bit that the Pandas were going to run away with it. Led by a 20-point night by Marisa Haylett, the Pandas also got double-digit efforts from Georgia Popovici and Arbuthnot, who potted 10 each. Alberta out-rebounded Calgary by a whopping 45-30 margin, grabbing 17 offensive boards and converting those into an advantage of 14 total shots on the night.

Lang, who had one of the opportunities to tie it late, led Calgary with 19 minutes, while Alex Cole added 13 and Hill an even dozen.

“We knew we would have to bring our 'A' game to have a chance to win tonight, and we did that. We had a chance,” said Harle. “I just hope we can put on another show like this tomorrow night.”

The series closes Saturday night with a 6 p.m. tip-off in the Jack Simpson Gym.

-UC-