For the first time since November of 2022, Manitoba welcomes Alberta to IGAC, set for a weekend of key contests.

Women's preview
Manitoba is looking for their first win over Alberta since January of 2011. The Pandas currently stand at the top of Canada West's Prairie Division at 10-2, and the Herd are aiming for the upset, looking to rise up in the standings. Manitoba is currently 5-7, in the seventh and final playoff spot in the Prairie Division.

Alberta's roster features 11 different players in at least their third year of eligibility. That includes 6'0" Winnipeg native Claire Signatovich, who turned heads during her time with Oak Park, winning three straight provincial titles between 2016-19. The fifth-year has won back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards for the Pandas, and scored a combined 32 points the last time the two teams faced off, along with 29 rebounds and four blocks.

Twenty of Signatovich's rebounds came in game one between the two sides in 2022, which is still her career high. She also owns the school record for most double-doubles.

Signatovich is one of four Pands who have scored at least eight points per game. The squad has been led by third-year 5'11" guard Annacy Palmer's 12.3, and 6'2" third-year forward Reece Hall's 10.3. Hall also leads the team with 9.6 rebounds per game for one of the conference's tallest overall rosters.

Manitoba counters with a versatile lineup that's risen to the task all season despite missing a few key players due to injury. As a group, the Herd are fourth in Canada West with 16.1 assists per game, just behind Alberta's 16.3.

Eight different Bisons have played in at least 19 minutes per game, including standout freshmen Darya Rom (21.4) and Paige Schatkowsky (19.6). Offensively, 6'2" forward Anna Miko and 6'1" forward Emerson Martin will be key. The pair are first and second in points per game for Manitoba, with 12.5 and 10.6, while Miko has recorded at least ten rebounds in five of her last seven games.

Martin has added 14 triples for the Herd, while Emily Mandamin leads the team with 20. Five different Bisons have shot at least 30 percent from distance this year as well.

Men's preview
One of the nation's best defensive teams, the 10-2, No. 9 nationally ranked Manitoba Bisons enter this weekend at the top of Canada West's Prairie Division. The Herd are coming off a split with No. 3 nationally ranked Calgary, where they held the nation's leading scorer Nate Petrone to just seven points entering the fourth in a Friday night win. They'll look to do the same against a sharp-shooting Alberta squad that loves to rain down threes.

The 4-8 Golden Bears are holding onto the final playoff spot in the Prairie Division, and enter play seventh in Canada West, shooting 33.6 percent from distance.

Five different members of the roster have sunk at least 11 threes, led by third-year guard Logan Powell's 24, and 6'6" freshman guard Kyle Varner's 23.

Third-year guard Isaac Simon has added 22 triples, and leads the Golden Bears in scoring by a wide margin. The CEBL veteran of the Saskatoon Rattlers is averaging 19.3 points per game, ten points more than anyone else on Alberta's roster. He takes on double teams often, and loves to work off of screens to find open space.

Manitoba will look to contain Alberta with their smothering defence, which has caused the opposition problems all year.
 
Under head coach Kirby Schepp, Manitoba has consistently been one of the country's best teams on the defensive end, and that success has led to offensive production, including points in transition (fourth in Canada West this season with 80.2 points per game). It's one of many reasons why the Bisons have advanced to the playoffs for ten consecutive years.

As a team, the Herd are giving up just 69.5 points per game, second in Canada West and tenth in the nation. Manitoba is also fifth in Canada West, with 9.2 steals per game, while their 4.7 blocks per game rank second, and their 40.4 rebounds per game are seventh.

Individually, no player in the country has more steals since 2021 than four-year starter Mason Kraus. The school's all-time leader in the category with 173 regular season steals, Storm has proven time and again why he should be in the conversation as the best defender in U SPORTS.
 
In 2024-25, he is once again a top candidate to win Defensive Player of the Year. A year after leading the country with 59 steals, Kraus is sitting in a tie for fifth in U SPORTS, with 31 steals, and he's played in less games than all but one player above him.

That's not to mention the play of 6'6" centre Cieran O'Hara on the glass. His 9.4 rebounds per game are third in Canada West, and that includes a combined seven in the final minute of the fourth against Calgary and No. 4 nationally ranked Winnipeg to seal victories in both contests.
 
In a November 30 win over Lethbridge, The Board Man grabbed 17 rebounds, the most in a game for the program in eight years. He also posted a career-high six blocks (the fifth most in a recorded Canada West game) in a season-opening win against Brandon, while locking down the Bobcat's best player Sultan Haider Bhatti (alongside Daren Watts).