CALGARY – The Calgary Dinos came alive for the second straight night after struggling in the first half, escaping the grasp of the Trinity Western Spartans in a 70-64 victory, sweeping the important weekend set.
BOX SCORE
With the series victory, Calgary (6-10) made up ground on the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack (7-11), who lost both of their games this weekend to the Saskatchewan Huskies. The Wolfpack are currently in eighth place in Canada West and is now only one game up on Calgary, with the Dinos holding the luxury of two games in hand. The two teams will meet for their own series next weekend in Kamloops, in what will certainly be an intense couple of nights.
Both teams struggled mightily from the floor for the entire match on Saturday, with neither the Dinos nor the Spartans able to eclipse 35% in total, including a paltry 7 for 27 combined output from three-point land. The struggles were also apparent at the free-throw line, where both teams missed 10 of the complimentary opportunities.
It took Calgary just under 13 minutes to crack double digits to start the game as well, where Tamara Jarrett would go on a personal 7-0 run to help the Dinos rally for a closer deficit at 30-24 in favour of Trinity Western going into the half. The low-scoring couple of quarters felt eerily similar to Friday's tilt, where the teams battled to a 26-25 score in similar struggles shooting the basketball.
Neither team would take more than a single-digit lead throughout the duration of the match, with the tight-affair culminating in an entertaining final two minutes.
With Calgary on top 65-57, Dinos Head Coach Shawnee Harle was hit with a technical foul after disputing a non-call underneath the Spartans basket at 1:34. Tiffany Olsen would hit only one of the free foul shots for Trinity Western, but Stephanie Carkner clutched up in hitting a wide-open three on the ensuing possession to give her team the four point swing, cutting the lead to 65-61.
Holly Strom would answer a pair of Megan Lang free throws with another long-range bomb to cut the lead to 67-64 with only 44 seconds to go, but a turnover on the Spartans next possession sealed the fate for the visitors, as Calgary padded their lead with free-throws to finish the game.
The Spartans relied on a terrific effort on the glass, especially in the first half where they pulled down 32 boards to only 18 for Calgary. The Dinos would do better in that department in the second half, cutting the deficit to six for a count of 50-44.
The constant full-court offensive pressure from the Dinos once again swung in their favour in the late stages of the game, as they forced 19 Spartan turnovers in the second half. Calgary nearly doubled their first half output in the second half (46 total points).
The Spartans once again relied on the services of their top player, Tiffany Olsen, who had 17 points and eight rebounds, while Strom had an excellent all-around game, recording a double-double with 14 points and 13 boards.
Calgary got solid contributions from last night's hero, Ashley Hill, who had 16 points, while Jarrett led the team with 17 points on a perfect nine-for-nine effort from the charity stripe. Samara Periera was the high-rebounder for Calgary, making up for a goose-egg in the scoring department with eight boards.
Harle conceded the tough first half, but was overall pleased with the effort of her troops.
“I thought Trinity was aggressive and physical, and I thought they were definitely the better team in the first half,” said Harle, “But thankfully the game is 40 minutes and not 20.
“We were able to gain some momentum halfway through the third with our pressure, which finally allowed our defence to create offence,” continued the coach. “It was also very good for us to have four different players in double digits. We're a tough team to defend when that happens.”
The Spartans (1-17) will take on the Huskies at home next weekend, in their continued quest for Canada West success.
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