SYDNEY, N.S. – Sophia Widmeyer scored a game-high 16 points to lead the No. 4-seeded Saint Mary's Huskies to a 70-68 win over the No. 5 University of Calgary Dinos in the third quarter-final of the 2023 U SPORTS Women's Basketball Final 8 at the Sullivan Field House on the Cape Breton University campus Thursday evening.

Widmeyer scored seven of her 16 points in the fourth quarter to push Saint Mary's into the Final 8 semifinal for the first time since 2016.

A back-and-forth game the whole way, the Dinos trailed 47-43 early in the fourth but responded in a big way with a 13-3 run. A Mackenzie Trpcic jumper with 5:29 left gave Calgary a 56-50 lead as their defence was creating havoc that led to easier looks on the offensive end.

But, Saint Mary's responded with a run of their own, going ahead 58-56 with 3:10 to play.

A jumper by Madison Landry and a pair of free throws from Amélie Collin put the Dinos back on top at 60-59 with 2:03 to play, but that proved to be the last lead of the game for the Scarlet & Gold.

Lucina Beaumont hit a three-pointer on the next Huskies possession to give them the lead for good. Pollyanna Storie hit a three of her own to keep the Dinos within striking distance, but SMU hit their free throws down the stretch to close it out.

"Obviously we're disappointed. The first game is always the one that decides what happens next. But we've been in this situation a number of times, so we'll dust ourselves off and get ready to do what we've done a number of times before, which is try to win two games on the bounce," Calgary head coach Damian Jennings said.

"It's a two-point game, but at the end of the day, there were just some clinical moments where we couldn't contain one-on-one and they were able to get to the line. We went on good runs and then we wouldn't look after the ball well enough. This is what you have to do at the national-championship level. It's a very physical game – a lot of play is going to happen and we just needed to be more clinical in those moments."

Storie finished with a team-high 12 points on the night for the Dinos. Mya Proctor finished with 11 points, three rebounds and three assists, while Collin also tallied 11 points. 

Lily Pink provided a big spark off the bench and finished with six points, three boards and three assists in 10 minutes of action.

The Dinos outshot their opponents on the night, 47.4 percent to 31.3, but the Huskies hit nine three pointers and got to the free throw line 33 times, connecting on 21 compared to Calgary going 10-13 from the charity stripe. 

Calgary will now take on No. 8 and host Cape Breton Friday in the second consolation semifinal matchup at 5 p.m. MT. 

-UC-