EDMONTON - The Dinos women's basketball team's streak of six straight wins was snapped Friday night with an 85-77 loss to the Alberta Pandas, but it wasn't all bad news for Calgary.

BOX SCORE

Thanks to a UBC victory over Thompson Rivers, the Dinos clinched a playoff spot in Canada West. The top eight teams make the post-season, and the seventh-place Dinos (10-11) hold a one-game lead over ninth-place TRU (9-14) heading into Saturday night. Thanks to their two-game sweep of the WolfPack two weeks ago, the Dinos hold the tiebreaker in head-to-head competition and will therefore make a return playoff appearance after a one-year hiatus.

In their second last regular season game in the historic Main Gym, the Pandas got a team high 24 points from fifth-year guard Marisa Haylett, as well as 16 points and nine rebounds from Georgia Popovici.

Calgary got 24 points from sophomore guard Tamara Jarrett as well as 15 points from Alex Cole.  The Dinos drop to a 10-11 record, but continue to sit in seventh place in the conference.

While the Pandas, now with a 16-7 portfolio, are a lock to play playoff basketball, what remains to be seen, is where.  At fourth in Canada West, they are currently slated to host playoffs, but both Victoria (15-7), and UBC (14-7) are well within striking distance, and in the case of the T-Birds, have games at hand on Alberta.  The Pandas will need to sweep their series against Calgary to stay in the pole position because they have the tiebreaking scenario on both the Vikes and UBC.

It certainly was never a sure thing on Friday night against a scrappy Dinos squad that just wouldn't stay down.

Alberta cruised to a 21-16 first quarter lead, and then increased their advantage to 13 points by virtue of a 43-30 half-time score.

Haylett was a big part of that first half lead, as was fellow fifth-year Alysia Rissling.  She finished with just five points and four rebounds, but displayed a work ethic and tenacity that has made her a key cog in the team's defensive scheme.  The Edmonton native also collected four steals on the night.

However, it wasn't enough to the keep Calgary down, as they came out the break determined to chip away at the Alberta lead.

Running all the offence through Jarrett, the Dinos slowly crept back into the contest through the latter half of the third quarter, and majority of the fourth.

Despite being down 67-49 with 10 minutes to play, Calgary climbed back to within six points in the fourth quarter, as they calmly defended Alberta's offensive forays, and then rushed the ball back up court for seemingly easy buckets.  For every Alberta shot that wouldn't go down, Calgary sunk one or two of their own.

However, outscoring the Pandas by 10 in the final frame, wasn't enough, as Haylett and the Pandas were able to regain enough control of the game to secure the win at 85-77.

The two sides will clash again tomorrow night in what promises to be a night to remember.  Not only are playoffs on the line, as well as positioning, but Alberta's Haylett and Rissling will be playing their final regular season games on home court, and the game will be the final ever Pandas regular season basketball game to be ever held in the Main Gym.  Tip-off is slated for 6:09 p.m.

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