CALGARY – After almost two months without a conference basketball game being played at Jack Simpson Gymnasium, the Dinos are back in action on Friday and Saturday nights with some cross-divisional games against the Fraser Valley Cascades and the Trinity Western Spartans.
Action tips off Friday night with Fraser Valley in town, with the men's game at 6 p.m. followed by the women at 8 p.m. Saturday, the Dinos will face Trinity Western with women's play tipping off at 5 p.m., followed by the men at 7 p.m. All four games will be broadcast live at http://cgy.canadawest.tv.
The Dinos match-up on Friday night at 8 p.m. on the women's side against the Cascades, the top-ranked team in the nation, in their only game against each other in the regular season. With only three losses between both teams of a possible 24, neither Calgary nor Fraser Valley is accustomed to losing.
The Dinos women's team split its weekend games on the road last week with a 74-71 comeback win over the UBC Okanagan Heat, but would fall to the Thompson Rivers Wolf Pack on Saturday night by a score of 69-60.
With just one loss all season long, the No. 1 Cascades swept their weekend matches on Jan. 11-12 over Saskatchewan and Alberta, and will look to extend that win streak on the road against the Dinos.
Fraser Valley boasts the likes of point guard Aieisha Luyken, as well as sisters Sarah and Nicole Wierks. Luyken is fourth in the league in assists with 56 over 12 games, good for 4.7 a game. Sarah Wierks has scored 172 points this season, averaging 14.3 a game and is fifth in field goal percentage at 0.564. Her sister, Nicole, is also in the top 30 in scoring in Canada West at the No. 22 spot with 144 points that gives her an average of 12 a game.
Saturday night presents a different challenge for the Dinos as they face the lowly Spartans, who have just a 2-10 record and sit at the bottom of the Pacific Division standings. The last win Trinity Western captured was December 1 over the Brandon Bobcats. Last weekend they fell to both the Alberta Pandas and the Saskatchewan Huskies.
Jorri Duxbury leads the Spartans as she averages 6.5 assists per game with 84 on the season, good for second place in Canada West.
Jessica Franz continues to be a standout for the Dinos. Over 12 games, the veteran forward is eighth in the league in scoring, averaging 16.3 points a game with a total of 196 on the season thus far. She's also thirteenth in rebounding with 84 total rebounds. Fourth-year Tamara Jarrett also makes the Top 30 scoring list coming in at no. 23 with 138 points averaging 11.5 a game.
Calgary's men's basketball team has its work cut out for it on Friday night at 6 p.m. as well. Going up against a Top 10 team in the Cascades squad, the Dinos will have just one chance to beat No. 7 Fraser Valley in conference play.
Like the women, the Dinos men split last weekend's games. They won their first game of the New Year on Friday night with a 59-56 win over UBCO. Calgary unfortunately couldn't say the same on Saturday night, as they fell to Thompson Rivers 85-81.
No. 7 Fraser Valley, with a record of 7-5, comes off two tough losses from last weekend as they took on two of the top teams in the Prairie Division. The Huskies took down the Cascades 90-82 on Friday and the No. 6 Golden Bears defeated them the following night 91-81.
Veteran Sam Freeman and second-year Kevon Parchment will be the two biggest threats the Cascades have to offer on Friday when the Dinos host them at 6 p.m. The two standouts sit at second and third on the scoring list in the conference, averaging 19.7 and 19.3 points per game, respectively. Point guard and fifth-year James York comes in at second in assists, with 63 in 12 games, good for an average of 5.3. Kyle Grewal averages the most minutes played in the conference at 36.3 a game.
The following night, the Dinos will host Trinity Western at 7 p.m. The Spartans sit in the sixth spot in the Pacific Division with a 4-8 record and come off a major upset over the Alberta Golden Bears last weekend where they took a game off of them by a score of 90-85. Trinity Western lost the following night to Saskatchewan, 92-85.
Spartan Mark Perrin will be a major factor in their success against the Dinos. The guard is currently second in Canada West in scoring, averaging 21.3 points per game and has scored 256 points so far this season.
For Calgary, Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson continues to shine, the Winnipeg product is fifth in the conference in scoring with 230 points in 12 games, good for an average of 19.2, and is also seventh in free throw percentage at 0.867. At 6-foot-7, Thijin Moses also poses a threat. The fourth-year forward is first in Canada West in blocked shots with 21 on the season, and seventh in defensive rebounds with a total of 72.
Next up for the Dinos is a divisional double-header in Winnipeg to take on the Wesmen, Jan. 24-25. They return home Feb. 1-2 to face the Regina Cougars.
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