CALGARY – The Dinos won their first playoff game of the season on Friday night as they took down the visiting Thompson Rivers WolfPack 71-58 in a best-of-three quarter-final series at the Jack Simpson Gymnasium. 

Calgary exploded in the second quarter of the game to defeat the WolfPack, and with the help of Ashley Hirons' game-high 20 points and eight rebounds, got one step closer to a Final Four berth. Fifth-year Megan Schaufele followed that performance up with 15 points and four assists, and veterans Jessica Franz and Tamara Jarrett scored 13 and 11 points, respectively. 

For Thompson Rivers, Jen Ju scored a team-high 18 points in the game. No. 3 leading scorer in the league, Diane Schuetze was the only player to record a double-double on the night with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Tracy Kocs also hit double digit numbers with 13 points of her own. 

A slow start for the Dinos in the first half saw them having to make up lost points early on. With the WolfPack sinking baskets from a number of places on the court, Calgary trailed after the first quarter 18-14. 

After the quick break, the Dinos went on an outstanding 14-0 run to start the second quarter. It took almost five minutes for the WolfPack to score their first basket of the quarter to go up 28-20. 

The Dinos ended the half with a three-pointer from point guard Schaufele to give them the ten-point lead heading into halftime. Calgary outscored Thompson Rivers 24-10 in the second. 

Once again, it took almost half of the quarter for the WolfPack to get on the board, with the Dinos extending their lead to 18 before allowing the visitors to score. As the quarter started to slow down for both teams, Thompson Rivers pulled within ten to have the same deficit as the beginning of the quarter. Dino Hirons had a game-high 17 points with ten minutes left in the game. 

In the fourth, both teams continued to work, with the Dinos maintaining their lead, and the WolfPack trying to break it. Nothing could be done from Thompson Rivers side of things, as the Dinos were too strong on the offence on the night. Calgary won the first game of the series 71-58.

Thompson Rivers will have a chance to keep it's playoff hopes alive, at least until Sunday, when they take on the No. 5 Calgary Dinos at the Jack at 7 p.m. in the second game of this Canada West quarter-final playoff series. 

-UC-