CALGARY – On the strength of a powerful second quarter and a monster game by Debbie Yeboah, the seventh-ranked University of Victoria Vikes out-gunned the Calgary Dinos Friday night with a 92-85 victory in the Jack Simpson Gym.

BOX SCORE

Yeboah ran circles around the Calgary defence all night, jacking up 21 shots and connecting on 11, including 6-for-9 shooting from three-point land to put up 32 points for Victoria. The win vaults the Vikes to 8-4 of the season, while the loss was Calgary's fifth straight in conference play and drops the Dinos to 6-8.

While Yeboah's offence was spread out virtually equally between the two halves, as a team Victoria's offence was heavily weighted to the opening 20 minutes where they put up 55 points. The Vikes built on a five-point lead after the first quarter to outscore Calgary 29-18 in the second, taking a 55-39 lead into the halftime break.

Calgary's defence finally settled in upon returning from the locker room, holding Victoria to just 13 points in the third quarter while cutting the deficit heading into the fourth quarter. But that newfound defence disappeared on both sides in the fourth quarter, when the teams combined for 54 points including a whopping 30 by Calgary.

The Dinos managed to get the deficit down to just five points at 85-80 with 80 seconds left on the clock, but Yeboah stepped up and grabbed back all of Calgary's momentum with a dagger three-ball just seconds later. From there Victoria responded to every Calgary score with points of their own to take the seven-point win.

Behind Yeboah's 32 points were four Vikes that scored 10 each: Carmen Lapthorne, Kristen Hughes, Kayla Dykstra, and Vanessa Forstbauer. Dykstra, the reigning CIS player of the year and a Calgary native, hauled in seven rebounds to lead the way for Victoria on the glass.

Calgary's Ashley Hill started the game 0-for-7 from the field and scored just two points in the first half. Her resurgence mirrored that of the Dinos in the second half, as she poured in 17 to finish with a team-high 19 on the night. Rookie Tamara Jarrett added 15, while Robyn Gibson and Tilly Ettinger had an even dozen apiece. Gibson was also the Dinos' rebounding leader with 8.

Both teams are back in action Saturday night against new opponents. Victoria will head south to face the Lethbridge Pronghorns while the Dinos will welcome the ninth-ranked UBC Thunderbirds, with both games tipping off at 6 p.m. MT.

-UC-