WINNIPEG – Sophomore sensation Anna Miko scored a career-high 29 points, while adding her first career double-double with ten rebounds, as the Manitoba Bisons beat the Lethbridge Pronghorns for the first time since 2018, 81-59 at IGAC on Friday.
 
The win improved Manitoba's record to 2-4 in Canada West's Prairie Division, while Lethbridge fell to 3-4. Both teams play again tomorrow at 5 pm.
 
Miko scored 15 of her 29 points from three-point range, with her five triples also serving as a personal best. She had 11 points by the end of the first quarter, including two triples, along with two steals and three rebounds as the Bisons led by six after ten, and didn't trail the rest of the way.
 
Lethbridge flexed their depth in the loss, as 13 different players saw game action, with four finishing in double figures.
 
Kyra Collier – who entered play with a team-leading 15 steals for Lethbridge – added a game-high five, while fellow guard Courtney McKee tied her career high with four steals. The duo finished with 14 and 15 points, respectively, to lead the visitors. 
 
As a team, the Pronghorns tallied 16 steals, and forced 21 Bisons turnovers. They recorded 19 points off of those turnovers, but Manitoba got 16 points of their own in that area, and were the far better team from distance.
 
Miko's five threes were more than the entire Pronghorns roster, who finished 4-for-36. The Bisons, on the other hand, sunk 12 triples, with Emily Mandamin – who played a game-high 36 minutes – adding five of her own, along with a career-high nine rebounds and four assists.
 
Miko worked on her perimeter shooting often this summer, getting in plenty of sessions with Sherwin Vasallo, along with teammate Ayva Khan and others. Her ability to sink buckets from anywhere at 6'2" has been key to the Bisons' success, and she now leads Canada West, shooting 53.8 percent from distance.
 
Her five triples on the night also passed her entire total last season, of four.
 
"It was a long journey. It would be rep after rep after rep," said Miko of her summer shooting threes.
 
"We'd start from one spot, no movement, and then we'd work off the dribble and then we worked off flairs. It was a whole process. It took a while, but it was definitely a part of my game that I wanted to improve just so I could be more versatile on the floor."
 
As a team, Manitoba stayed level with the Pronghorns on the glass, with fifth-year forward Autumn Agar recording her third career double-double, with 11 rebounds and a game-high 17 points.
 
Agar added seven assists, while Manitoba – who entered play fourth in Canada West with 15.4 assists per game – recorded 22 compared to eight for Lethbridge.
 
A close game was blown wide open in the fourth, as the hosts out-scored the Horns 19-7, holding the visitors to one assist, while amassing six of their own, two from Miko, who racked up six more points as well.
 
"Lots of people are scoring lots of points," said Miko. "It makes the job easier for everyone else, because you can rely on so many people on the team. We all have so much trust in each other. It's fun to play that way."