Box Score WINNIPEG – Despite playing a tight pressing game and outscoring their opponents in the fourth quarter, the University of Manitoba Bisons lost to the University of Winnipeg Wesmen 77-58 in the last Bison women's basketball home game of the season at Investors Group Athletic Centre on Saturday, January 31. The loss is Manitoba's second of the weekend, after falling to the Wesmen 72-53 on the road on Friday night. The Bisons remain last in the Canada West Pioneer Division, with a 1-17 record. The Wesmen hold on to the fifth playoff slot in the division with the victory and extend their win streak to four games and their season record to 10-6.
Winnipeg guard Megan Noonan led both teams with 27 points.
Bison captain Robyn Eyer scored a team-high 14 points, while Manitoba's Jenilyn Monton had 13. The Wesmen claimed an early lead, after the Bisons ran into trouble with fouls and turnovers in the first. Manitoba's 10 turnovers in the quarter led to nine Winnipeg points, and the Bisons' five team fouls put the Wesmen shooting in bonus and gave the visitors six points from behind the line. Noonan scored 10 points in the first to help her team finish the quarter up 26-18.
Winnipeg doubled their lead in the second quarter, netting 23 points while only letting Manitoba score 11 more, six of which came from Eyer. Noonan put up eight more points for the Wesmen in the quarter, while her teammate Stephanie Kleysen sank two 3-pointers to help Winnipeg take a 49-29 lead heading into the second half.
Manitoba's offensive slump continued in the third. The Wesmen held the home side scoreless for almost four minutes at the start of the quarter, until Bison
Stephanie Gill scored off a 3-point jump shot. Neither team scored for the next three minutes, when
Sheree Carmona-Galdamez sunk a layup for the Bisons. But Manitoba's offense couldn't close the scoring gap, and the Wesmen finished the third ahead 60-37.
The Bisons played a cleaner, tighter game in the fourth. Gill opened the scoring for Manitoba, sinking a free throw and 3-point jumper in the first 30 seconds of the quarter. The Bisons held the Wesmen to 17 points in the quarter, while Gill, Carmona-Galdamez, Monton,
Vanessa DeVries,
Samantha Pyke, and
Atoosa Jalayeri combined for 21 Manitoba points. But this offensive outburst wasn't enough to clinch the win, and the Bisons lost in a 77-58 final.
The Bisons are off next weekend but will take on the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds on the road at 6 p.m. PST on Friday, February 13. The Wesmen play next against the Trinity Western University Spartans on Friday, February 6 at 6 p.m. PST.
