WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Wesmen pushed a little harder but ultimately couldn't topple one of the giants of the Canada West.
The Calgary Dinos had 17 offensive rebounds and 40 boards on the night, dominating a key facet of the game on their way to their 14th win in 14 conference games Saturday, defeating the Wesmen women's basketball team 71-58 at the Duckworth Centre.
But the Wesmen certainly made the No. 2-ranked Dinos take notice, holding a 21-19 lead after a quarter and trailing by just five at half.
The Dinos, however, swung things in their favour with a 20-10 third quarter that included a key 8-0 run. After Robyn Boulanger hit a three to bring Winnipeg to within 39-37 1:52 into the half, the Dinos scored the next eight to extend the lead to double digits, and the Wesmen would not get closer than seven the rest of the way.
"It's hard to tell because I can easily say, 'Yeah, yeah, we didn't come and bring our A-game," Calgary head coach
Damian Jennings said. "But that's a very, very impressive set of adjustments and response from Winnipeg. They absolutely left nothing out there. We got our cage rattled a little bit and I'm proud of the girls and the way they responded. But it was all little bits. We never had a nice flow like we did (in a win Friday) and much of that is to Winnipeg's credit."
Jillian Duncan had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead the Wesmen (8-6), who gave up 12 O-boards while gathering just one in the first half.
Anna Kernaghan and Deb Nkiasi both had 11 points for Winnipeg, which also got 10 from Robyn Boulanger along with six assists and five rebounds.
Liene Stalidzane had a game-high 20 to pace Calgary (14-0).
Mya Proctor added 14 and
Bobbi-Jo Colburn 11.
