LANGLEY, B.C. – A suffocating second-half defensive performance by the University of Calgary Dinos powered them to a convincing 76-47 win over Trinity Western Saturday night from the Langley Events Centre to advance to the Canada West semifinals.

The Dinos came into the night as the No. 6 seed in this year's conference tournament, and they methodically dismantled third-seeded TWU in this quarterfinal matchup.

Calgary scored the first 14 points in this one and never trailed, limiting the Spartans to just 15 total points over the final 20 minutes of action.

Christine Geraldo led all players in scoring with 16 points on 7-9 shooting. Lilia Skumatova went 5-6 inside the arc and finished with 12 points, while Raya Hafez added 10 points. 

Pollyanna Storie was hot early and chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds, while Kourtney Oss added nine points, nine rebounds and three blocks.

Mavleen Chahal led the way for TWU with 10 points, while Myrlaine Shelvey and Colette Van der Hoven each added nine for the Spartans.

It was all Dinos early in this one, with Storie drilling a triple right out of the gates to help set the tone. Skumatova followed with a jumper from the elbow before a pair of buckets from Geraldo. Oss quickly added five more for the visitors and Calgary quickly built a 14-0 lead less than five minutes into this one. Chahal would connect from deep to finally get Trinity Western off the schneid and the Dinos led 26-16 after one.

TWU ramped up their defensive effort in the second and were able to cut the Dinos' lead to just 30-26 after back-to-back triples from Shelvey with 6:11 to play in the frame. Despite being the road team though, Calgary never seemed rattled as they calmly regrouped and reestablished a 41-32 edge at the half.

The final 20 minutes was all Dinos. After trading baskets to start the third, Calgary went on a 14-4 run the rest of the quarter as their defense forced 21 Spartan turnovers to help build a 57-38 lead after three.

It was much of the same in the fourth, as the Scarlet & Gold scored the first nine points before cruising to their second road playoff win in as many days.

"It was key for us to get off to a great start," Dinos head coach Sarah Besselink said. "We knew they were going to punch back. Obviously, they made quite a run in the first quarter after we were up 14-0. But at halftime, we made some adjustments. We started switching a lot more, and we were able to avoid getting lost defensively. So that allowed us to contest a lot more of their shots, and I think that was the factor.

The Dinos finished with the advantage in seemingly every statistical category, headlined by a dominance down low that saw them win the rebounding battle, 51-35. They also had a 14-8 edge in assists, had 24 points off turnovers to TWU's 10 and outscored the home squad 10-0 in second-chance points.

Up next, Calgary will head to Saskatchewan to take on the No. 1 Huskies in a semifinal showdown. Game time is set for Saturday (Feb. 21) at 6 p.m. MT.

"We've got a tough test in front of us with Saskatchewan," Besselink said. "They are fantastic. They're undefeated for a reason, and we're going to have to come up with a good game plan."

-UC-