BOX SCORE

CALGARY – They put forward another outstanding effort, but the Calgary Dinos fell just short of a CIS bronze medal with a 79-73 loss to the Ottawa Gee-Gees to wrap up the CIS Final 8 Monday afternoon in the Jack Simpson Gym.

Calgary pulled off a miraculous upset in the first day of the tournament as they defeated the top-seeded Cougars. Last night in front of another packed crowd at the Jack, the Dinos would play a wire-to-wire game, but fell 81-71 to the defending CIS champion Windsor Lancers. Calgary was looking for their ninth medal at the national tournament.

“I don't know what else we could have done,” stated Dinos' head coach Shawnee Harle. “I felt we emptied the tank, we played every defence we had, we ran everything in our playbook and all of our quick hits, it was a two-possession game late, and that's all that I can ask”.

Both clubs had success early as the game took the form of a track meet with the teams trading baskets. The Gee-Gees' Jenna Gilbert was able to put up an early eight point including two three-pointers. Gilbert eventually went on to finish with 19 points. Overall, both Calgary and Ottawa had three successful three-pointers.

Ottawa opened a gap on the scoreboard with a run in the second quarter. The Gee-Gees' lead grew to as big as 13 before the Dinos fought back to make it a five-point game with the score 43-38 at halftime. The visiting team was able to sustain the lead by dominating in the rebound department at 21-11 through 20 minutes.

The OUA champions started the third quarter on a 6-0 run which put them up by twelve in the first five minutes of the half. Characteristically of them in this tournament, the Dinos continued to shoot well, but got beaten to the ball on numerous occasions. Calgary trailed Ottawa 56-48 going into the final quarter.

As they did for most of the game, The Gee-Gees looked like they were about to pull away. The resilient Dinos worked their way back though, creating a thrilling final few minutes. Calgary managed to bring the score within four, but Ottawa was able to put in their free throws to clinch bronze.

“All you can ask for is that you give yourself a chance down the stretch, and I thought we gave ourselves that chance,” said Harle.

The Bronze Medal Game marked the final games for Dinos' Jenna Kaye and Megan Lang in their five-year careers.

“Fifth year players are worth their weight in gold, you wish you could speed the process up for every player that comes in your program in their first years so they can gain the knowledge and insight fifth-year players have,” shared the 18-year Calgary coach. “Jenna Kaye was with our program for one year but she changed everybody just because she is such a gamer; and Megan Lang has been in with all feet since the day she arrived and I love her for that.”

The Gee-Gees out-rebounded the home team 51-30 and had a 43.3 field goal percentage, compared to Calgary's 38.3.

The player of the game for the Dinos was Jessica Franz of Surrey, BC, who had 19 points along with six rebounds. First-year Kellie Ring, from Ottawa, ON, picked up the honours for Ottawa with 13 assists.

-UC-