SASKATOON – The Calgary Dinos have done something no other team in the nation has done in over 50 games against the Saskatchewan Huskies. Win.

With a relentless defensive effort and an impressive second-quarter scoring run, the Dinos outlasted the top ranked team in the nation for a 61-58 victory on the road, advancing the Canada West Championship for the second time in four years. 

"I'm incredibly proud of them, obviously," said Calgary head coach Sarah Besselink." There were a lot of keys that we had to focus on. Number one was boxing out and really containing their scorers, and we did that today. They committed to it. We were disciplined."

The UBC Thunderbirds, who defeated the Regina Cougars Friday night to advance to the conference final, now await the Dinos. The win also secures a U SPORTS Final 8 berth for Calgary.

After a tightly-contested opening quarter between the two Prairie Division rivals, and 8-0 run late in the second quarter saw the Dinos take their first lead since the opening minutes of the game. Amélie Collin connected on two three-pointers to cap off the streak, which saw Calgary pull ahead by seven with four minutes left until the half.

The Huskies would respond however, with a 6-0 run of their own. Ella Murphy Wiebe recorded four points while Andrea Dodig added a late layup, to separate the two teams by just a single point at the half.

As the defensive battle continued into the third, both sides saw most of the early points come from the charity stripe. It was at this stage of the game that two teams settled into a back-and-forth affair, with the Dinos pulling ahead and Saskatchewan responding.

Calgary continued to exploit their size advantage, working for second chance opportunities but the Huskies found timely buckets from Gage Grassick and Maya Flindall, the team's regular season scoring leaders.

Tied at 47 after three, the contest was perfectly set up for a dramatic ending.

Points continued to be difficult to come by, and with just over three minutes remaining Calgary entered the final stages leading 58-56. Despite holding the lead, the Dinos could not capitalize on late chances at the free throw line throw line, allowing the Huskies to keep within a score.

With 19 seconds remaining Logan Reider cut the deficit back to a single point, which was followed by a Huskie foul as the Dogs looked to get the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead.

After Milica Gajic made one of her two attempts, the Huskies once again regained possession. It did not last long however, as the inbound attempt went off a Huskie and out of bounds, forcing the Dogs back into a fouling scenario. 

Despite getting the ball back one final time, Calgary swarmed Gage Grassick, who was looking for the tying three-point attempt, securing the win.

"It was definitely a team effort," second-year guard Christine Geraldo said. "We really developed that underdog mentality and we just combined all of our strengths together and stuck together through it all."

Collin and Geraldo led the scoring for Calgary with 15 points apiece, while Kourtney Oss added 11 points and 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the postseason. 

Ironically, the last loss Saskatchewan suffered 52 games ago also came at the hands of the Dinos, as Calgary opened the 2024-25 conference season with two home wins over the Huskies. 

The Dinos and Thunderbirds will play for the Canada West Championship Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3:00 p.m. MT in Vancouver. 

For the Huskies, their season is not necessarily over as the Dogs will hope to earn a berth into the 2026 U SPORTS Final 8 as a the at-large berth. 

-UC-