WINNIPEG – Trailing by as much as 13 in the fourth quarter at home, the Manitoba Bisons clawed their way back, and had a chance to steal a win with 16 seconds left, but Lethbridge held on, improving to 4-3 with a 71-68 victory. Manitoba fell to 2-5.
Tobore Okome was the catalyst most of the night for Lethbridge. The big finished with a career-high 19 points along with nine rebounds, helping her side erupt to a 58-45 lead entering the fourth.
Okome shot 9-for-15 from the field, using an effective first step in the paint to frustrate the Bisons. Lethbridge got support from Kyra Collier, who had 15 points, while Ukraine native Vlada Hozalova, a refugee who moved to Canada last year, was two points shy of her career best from last weekend, scoring 16.
The battle between Hozalova and Manitoba point guard
Lauren Bartlett was entertaining all evening. The former nailed three triples, and was asked to play man defence on Bartlett for strong portions of the game.
On Manitoba's end, Bartlett finished with 11 points and ten assists, along with seven steals and five rebounds. The double-double was the first of Bartlett's career, after recording her first triple-double against MacEwan last year. Her seven steals were the third most of her career.
Manitoba also got 12 points from
Emerson Martin and ten from
Emily Johnson, but the x-factor was
Emily Mandamin coming off the bench.
The versatile forward played just over two minutes entering the final ten, but was asked to step up following foul trouble to Martin and
Autumn Agar, who finished with seven points and seven boards.
Mandamin proceeded to hit three triples, and also played lock-down defence on Okome, who didn't record any points in the fourth.
She nailed her second three of the game just over two minutes into the final ten, to make the score 60-52. Bartlett then nailed a three, followed by two more consecutively from Mandamin to narrow Lethbridge's lead to 63-61.
A back-and-forth battle followed.
With 2:30 left,
Ayva Khan tied the game at 65, but Hozalova got to the line right after, as both teams were in the bonus. John then hit a jumper to tie it again.
Manitoba took the lead on an Agar free throw with 20 seconds left, but two free throws from Kamryn Deklerk gave the visitors back the lead.
That's when Mandamin had a chance to win it in the half court, but Lethbridge got a hand on her shot to shut things down. They then hit two free throws to seal the deal.
"The game plan was for Lauren to come down hill, and get a layup," said Mandamin.
"Unfortunately that couldn't happen so we passed the ball a little bit. I saw the girl in front of me, so I decided to take a shot. Unfortunately the calls didn't go our way, the shot didn't go in, but it was a good battle through and through."
Both teams play again tomorrow at 5 pm.
