CALGARY - Momentum is on the minds of the Calgary Dinos basketball teams as they ring in 2011 with a pair of pivotal series against the Fraser Valley Cascades this weekend in the Jack Simpson Gym.

Classes don't start again until Monday – but both Dinos teams have been hard at work preparing for a weekend that will have serious playoff consequences for all teams involved. Both Dinos teams sit on the outside of the playoff picture as the second half of the season opens, and the Cascades are among the teams they'll battle with to finish in the top eight – and thereby qualify for the post-season.

The second-half schedule is not easy for either team, but the Dinos men face a considerably more difficult slate over the final 14 games of the 24-game schedule. Five of Calgary's final seven series come against the teams currently sitting 1-5 in the Canada West standings, with this weekend against UFV and a late-January trip to Kamloops to face Thompson Rivers the only exceptions. Calgary travels to UBC next week, hosts Trinity Western a week later, and then closes the season with home series against Manitoba and Saskatchewan sandwiched around a trip to Edmonton to face the Golden Bears.

So, with a 4-6 record and tied for the final playoff spot with Brandon, the Dinos need to get victories wherever possible – and a two-game sweep of the 4-8 Cascades would put considerable distance between the two teams and kick-start a second-half run for Calgary.

The Dinos have yet to win on a Friday night in conference play and are riding a five-game winless skid overall, including a trio of losses during a post-Christmas trip to Southern California against three NAIA schools. However, it's not all doom and gloom for Calgary – the Dinos welcomed back sophomore point guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson in California, and his return should provide a boost after missing the entire fall term with an ankle injury sustained in the pre-season.

Tyler Fidler continues to lead the Dinos on the floor with his conference-leading 12.3 rebounds per game and a team-best 16.8 points.

The Dinos face a Cascades squad led by second-year guard Joel Friesen, whose 16.2 points per game puts him three spots back of Fidler at 12th in the conference scoring race. Sam Freeman (14.4 ppg) is the only other UFV player in the top 30 in scoring.

The Cascades were also in the Los Angeles area in late December, losing all three games they played – including two against teams the Dinos also fell to. On paper it should be a well-matched series, one that could very well decide which of the two teams keeps playing come playoff time.

The second half for the Dinos women (3-7), meanwhile, opens against a 6-6 Cascades team that currently holds the eighth and final playoff spot. Calgary has so far managed just the three wins on the year, sweeping Brandon and splitting with Lethbridge – and all three wins have come in the friendly confines of The Jack. It goes without saying, then, that the Dinos need to take advantage of their home schedule in the second half.

Shawnee Harle's Dinos enter the New Year with some momentum thanks to three straight wins and the tournament title at the annual Holiday Hoops event Dec. 28-30 here in Calgary. After defeating Laval 72-58, the Dinos got past a shorthanded Victoria Vikes squad 79-46 before earning probably their most impressive win of the season, a hard fought 67-63 decision over the Toronto Varsity Blues. With a pair of wins over top-10 teams in their back pocket, the Dinos hope to carry that impetus forward as they face the Cascades this weekend.

Fifth-year forward Ashley Hill continues to lead the way for the Dinos statistically, averaging 14.5 points each outing – good enough for sixth in the conference scoring race. Without another player in the top 30, the remainder of Calgary's offence has come by committee: nine other players average better than 3.5 points per game, led by Megan Lang's 9.4 and Alex Cole's 8.3. Cole is also the team's leading rebounder with a 5.8 average, and her 14 blocked shots on the year is second-best in the conference.

Fraser Valley's offence is also spread out, with fourth-year guard Tessa Klassen the only player to average in the double digits at 10.5 per game. Sarah Wierks is just behind her at 9.7.

The Cascades have either swept or been swept in every series they've played so far this season, with wins coming against Manitoba (3-7), Trinity Western (1-13), and Thompson Rivers (7-5). They have dropped their other three series, falling to Saskatchewan (8-2), Victoria (9-3), and UBC (7-5).

As mentioned, the Dinos head to Vancouver next week to face the UBC Thunderbirds at War Memorial Gym. Calgary returns home Jan. 21-22 when they take on the Trinity Western University Spartans.

-UC-