EDMONTON - After a shaky start, the University of Alberta Pandas basketball team got down to the business of booking a home playoff series by defeating the Calgary Dinos 75-68 in the Pandas' final regular season game of the year, Saturday night in the U of A's Main Gym.

BOX SCORE

Fifth-year shooting guard Marisa Haylett, originally from Vancouver, banked a game high 28 points, including four treys, and rookie point guard Sally Hillier had 12 points in the Alberta win.

Veteran guard Ashley Hill led the Dinos on Saturday night, finishing with 17 points, while Samara Pereira chipped in six points and a game high 10 rebounds.

The Dinos were once again without the services of Megan Lang, who has missed three straight games with an ankle injury. To make matters worse, Tilly Ettinger - who was having her best weekend of the season to that point - went down in the third quarter Saturday night and did not return for Calgary.

With the Main Gym packed full of supporters, and the game being broadcast on Shaw TV, the Pandas may have been rattled by the electric atmosphere, as they struggled offensively in the opening quarter.

Calgary, ready to play from the outset, jumped out to a six point lead after 10 minutes, and had Alberta back on their heels through the first quarter.

The Pandas climbed back into the contest in the second quarter, earning their first lead at 21-20, but had to fight Calgary off every step of the way.  The two sides traded leads back-and-forth before half, with Alberta eventually coming out on top 32-29.

That momentum carried through them through the third quarter, as the Pandas seemed poised to blow the game open, picking up a 55-49 lead heading into the fourth.

They continued to cruise through the first two minutes of the fourth as they widened the gap even further, but slowly, the wheels began falling off.

Following a Haylett three-pointer, that stopped a brief Calgary scoring run, the Dinos picked up six straight points on free-throws, to close the gap to four points.

With Calgary generating momentum of their own, Alberta buckled down in the defensive zone, collecting tough rebounds, steals and blocks to snuff out the Dino comeback.

Saskia Van Ginhoven and Kendra Asleson then scored clutch buckets from inside the Dino paint to set up the Panda win, and book a home playoff series.

Calgary returns home to close the regular season with a pair of dates against the first-place Saskatchewan Huskies Friday and Saturday nights in what could very well be a rehearsal for a first-round playoff series between the two squads one week later in Saskatoon. Game time is 6 p.m. in the Jack Simpson Gym.

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