CALGARY – They led for more than 39 minutes, but the Calgary Dinos couldn't hold off a determined comeback effort by the Alberta Pandas as they dropped a 65-61 decision to their archrivals Saturday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

BOX SCORE

After being held to just 37 points in the first three quarters, the Pandas outscored Calgary 28-19 in the final 10 minutes. Josephine Peacock put the visitors up 62-61 on her free throw with 50.2 second left on the clock, and the Dinos were forced to foul late as they watched their game-long lead slip away, dropping their fourth straight conference game and falling to 6-7 on the season.

"We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory tonight," said a frustrated Calgary head coach Shawnee Harle. "I thought we played very well for most of the game, but we didn't play smart in the last two minutes and our youth and inexperience really exposed themselves tonight."

The turning point of the contest came at the 3:57 mark of the fourth quarter when Dinos rookie Tamara Jarrett was called for her fourth foul of the game with Calgary leading by six. Jarrett protested and was assessed a technical foul, ending her night with more than six minutes left. The Pandas made all four free throws on the play, then Peacock scored on the ensuing Alberta possession, and suddenly the game was tied.

With 11 points, Jarrett was the Dinos' leading scorer at the time and her presence on the floor was missed, especially on the defensive end. Her 11 points held up for the team lead at the end of the night and, including those six points in a matter of just 10 seconds, the Pandas outscored the Dinos 21-11 in the final six minutes of the game to take the victory.

Poor free throw shooting was again a key factor in the Dinos' undoing Saturday. Despite improving on their 50 per cent shooting from Friday night's two-point loss, Calgary still managed to go just 13-22 from the line on the night. Alberta, meanwhile, had the benefit of 18 trips to the charity stripe in the fourth quarter alone and made good on 13 of those chances.

Neither team shot particularly well from the field on the night, with Calgary actually outperforming their rivals in that category with 35.4 per cent to the Pandas' 29.6.

Marisa Haylett was again a Dino killer for Alberta, playing 33 minutes while putting up 17 points and hauling down eight rebounds. Caitlin Stiksma and Anneka Bakker also had eight boards each as the Pandas made up for their poor shooting from the field with 27 offensive rebounds, resulting in 19 second chance points. Overall, the Pandas held a whopping 59-40 advantage on the glass.

Haylett was the only Panda to break double digits in scoring, with Peacock chipping in eight while Kaitlyn Arbuthnot, Kendra Asleson, and Georgia Popovici scored seven each as the Pandas spread out the offence.

Alex Cole scored nine for the Dinos, chipping in with a team-leading seven rebounds on the night, while Megan Schaufele, Ashley Hill, and Tilly Ettinger added eight points apiece on the night.

The Pandas, who improved to 9-5 on the season, embark on the British Columbia Interior road trip next weekend with stops at Fraser Valley in Abbotsford and Thompson Rivers in Kamloops. The Dinos will also take on opponents from the Pacific Division when they host the Victoria Vikes and UBC Thunderbirds next weekend in the Jack Simpson Gym.

-UC-