REGULAR SEASON
| Victoria | 17-3 | 22-5 | Kathy Shields | ||||||
| Calgary | 15-5 | 21-8 | Shawnee Harle | ||||||
| Alberta | 10-10 | 13-16 | Trix Baker | ||||||
| U.B.C. | 9-11 | 9-12 | Debbie Huband | ||||||
| Lethbridge | 7-13 | 8-16 | Dori Johnson | ||||||
| Saskatchewan | 2-18 | 4-18 | Tracey Bowie | ||||||
Playoff non-qualifiers:
Lethbridge Pronghorns: Joanne Clark, Jill Carley, Deborah Hubbard, Michelle Bews, Kris Anderson, Anne Trenholm, Kym Foley, Crystal McPherson, Jan MacLellan, Kim Hertzberg, Krista Robson, Bonnie Miller, Susan Hawley, coach Dori Rodzinyak
Saskatchewan Huskies: Kim Grant, Allison Fairbrother, Lori Henderson, Sandra Anderson, Heather Stalwick, Melanie Rakochy, Susan Deibert, Tanya Price, Shannon Johnston, Donna-Marie Frassetto, Sherri Buckler, coach Tracey Bowie
In the semis, regular season runner-up Calgary defeated third place Alberta 76-64; 77-67 (2g-1). …………………………………………………… In game one, the Dinosaurs prevailed as Meagan Koch hit a jumper over two Pandas with five seconds on the clock. Alberta had hit a pair of free throws to knot the score at 74 with 11 seconds remaining. It was Koch’s first playoff win. “You feel like you’re going to throw up but you don’t,” she said. “This being my last year, I wanted to have a chance at winning something finally.” Koch finished with 34 points, shot .670 from the field and 4-4 from the line, while scoring 10 of Calgary’s last 12 points. “As (coach) Shawnee (Harle) told us, it’s a big emotional lift the way we won it and emotionally crushing for them. Our team is happening right now. Our defence pulled together in the second half but give Alberta credit. They left their guts on the floor too.” Alberta had scrapped back after relinquishing a 16-0 run the second half. Rania Burns paced the Pandas with 16. Harle said Koch was incredible. “There’s no more next years for Meagan. You could see she wants it that much more. She wants the ball. Her mentality is ‘find a way to stop me’. So, as a coach, you have to play the percentage and go to the person who’s scoring for you. This is a big step for us and a real tribute to the players, winning in the dying seconds is about more than X’s and O’s. It’s a belief in each other.” …………………………………………………… In game two, Calgary prevailed 77-67. “We had more of a team effort,” said Calgary coach Shawnee Harle. “We had lots of people contribute offensively. Defensively, we were outstanding.” Meagan Koch led Calgary with 25. Julie Dayman added 9 off the bench while Denise Page tossed in 13. Alberta led 42-38 at the half but the Dinosaurs took command midway through the second half.
In the other semi, regular season champ Victoria sweeps U.B.C. 95-48; 75-46 (2g-0). …………………………………………………… In game one, Victoria stomped UBC 95-48 as Lisa Koop scored 22. Trixie Cruz led UBC with 11. The Vikings depth proved the difference. Players like Rachael Sexton and Cindy Mavety came into the game after the Vikes vaunted backcourt got into foul trouble. “Our bench really stepped up when it needed to because we [guards] got into trouble with fouls,” said Canada West first team all-star Audrey Dennison, adding that the Vikes were determined to avenge a 68-64 loss in the final game of the regular season. “Oh yeah, you bet it bothered us. It was payback time, we all remembered what happened last Saturday, and we just took it upon ourselves to say we’re taking it to you in our own gym.” Kerri-Ann Butterworth said “our bench won it for us. But our defence came in a close second when you analyze why we did so well out there tonight. Our defence created the turnovers that allowed us to get all of our transition baskets.” Dennison was the second highest Vikes scorer with 21 points while Sexton had 12 and Mavety and Lisa Bright 10 points each. Shields said “Sexton and Mavety came in off the bench and we really took off after that,” said Shields. “It says I for our depth that we don’t have to rely on just our starters every single night.” …………………………………………………… In game two, the Vikes prevailed 75-46. The Vikes dominated the T-Birds in every phase of the game Saturday, causing 26 UBC turnovers, making 14 steals, out-rebounding the visitors 33-29 and holding UBC to 40 per cent shooting. Up 41-30 at the half, the Vikes used their aggressive defence to key a decisive 23-7 run to start the final 20 minutes. “It wasn’t the best weekend for us, for sure,” UBC coach Deb Huband said. “We came up empty on a lot of counts. But I thought UVic had a great weekend. We split with them [in conference play] this year and we caused them some problems then, but this weekend they came out hard with all 12 players and turned up the pressure.” Lisa Koop poured in 19 points and added three steals and seven assists. Kerri-Anne Butterworth scored 14 points on 7-9 from the floor and four steals. Audrey Dennison added 11 points, six rebounds and three assists. Point guard Trixie Cruz led UBC with 11. “It was a little tough to match the intensity we had last night but I thought we did a good job,” Shields said. “I was really pleased.”
In the finals, Victoria thrashed Calgary 75-53; 69-66 (2g-0).
In game one, Victoria dominated the second half as they strode to a 75-53 win. The Vikings led 40-31 at the half despite trailing by two with two minutes to play. But they opened the second half with a 10-0 run and the Dinos were done. “We played an outstanding first half,” said Calgary coach Shawnee Harle. But in the second frame “I don’t think we were ready to play with the intensity that we needed. We lacked aggression and that was our big strength in the first half.” Lisa Koop paced Victoria with 32 points, 7 boards, 4 assists and 4 steals. The Vikings shot 27-48 from the field. Kwynn Blazine led Calgary with 10. The Dinosaurs shot 17-42 from the floor. “We did not shoot the ball well at all in the second half,” said Harle. “It was a bizarre win,” said Vikes coach Kathy Shields. “I don’t think we played very well at all. We had spurts where we played well and we played well in most of the second half, but I think we were disjointed at both ends of the floor.” Springing a tenacious trapping defence on the Dinosaurs, UVic broke open what had been a close game during the final 2:17 of the first half by going on a game-deciding 11-0 run. Leading the ball hawking defence, Koop had nine of the Vikes’ points during that run as UVic turned a 31-29 deficit into a 40-31 lead at the intermission. Koop then helped salt away the win with three buckets, an assist and a free-throw in the first four minutes of the second half. “Lisa played well,” Shields said of her star guard. “She took it upon herself to up the intensity out there at both ends of the court and I think it brought the whole team up.” Koop, though, wasn’t satisfied. “I didn’t think we played as well as we could have. Especially in the first half, when we came out with heavy feet defensively. [Tonight] we’re going to look to pick it up a little more.” Forward Lisa Bright added 12 points and, along with Kirstin Brown, supplied a strong rebounding presence for the Vikes in the second half while Audrey Dennison had 10 points. Kwynn Blazina, with 10 points, was the only Calgary player in double figures. Star wing Meagan Koch, who averages better than 23 points a game, was held to just nine. “I thought we played 20 minutes of very good basketball,” Calgary coach Shawnee Harle said. “I think we proved we could play with them and now we’ve just got to get it done for a longer period. We didn’t come here just to participate. We came here with the goal to win it.”
In game two, the Vikes prevailed 69-66 after making three huge steals in the final minute. Calgary led 62-59 with 3:30 left in the game. But then Canada West player of the year Lisa Koop hit a big three-pointer to pull UVic even at 62-62. Calgary went ahead 64-62 with 1:50 remaining. But then Megan Koch, Calgary’s star player, missed on a key basket with 1:15 remaining and then fouled out of the game on the ensuing play. UVic’s Kirstin Brown then calmly sank two free throws with exactly one minute remaining to pull UVic even at 64-64. Brown then deflected the ball on a Calgary pass and Koop scooped it up to score a breakaway basket with 44 seconds remaining to put UVic ahead 66- 64. Brown then stole the ball again, leading to a Kerri-Anne Butterworth free throw with 30 seconds remaining that made it 67-64. But Butterworth missed her second foul shot, which left the door open for Calgary to hit a three-pointer in the waning seconds to possibly send the game into overtime. But Koop came up with another steal, which led to her scoring two free throws with 10 seconds remaining to make it 69-64. Calgary scored at the buzzer to make it 69-66. Calgary led 29-21 in the first half but a couple of driving baskets by Rachael Sexton keyed a UVic rally which enabled the Vikes to go up 43-36 at the half. Koop led UVic with 17 points while Brown had 16 and Audrey Dennison 12. Koch had 23 points for Calgary.
The co-bronze medalist British Columbia Thunderbirds: Trixie Cruz; Tama Bell; Carmel Burke; Michelle Davey; Laura Esmail; Julie Harris; Lori Kemp; Diana Marcinko; Jessica Mills; Rory Perrier; Kim Phipps; Priscilla Reddy; Lisa Scharf; Lindsay-Alison Sidwell; coach Deb Huband
The co-bronze medalist Alberta Pandas: Rania Burns; Jackie Simon; Nadine Fennig; Krista Johnstone; Kirstin Johns; Kristy Wiebe; Lisa Stubbs; Maeve Maguire; Kim Wyley; Lindsay Burgess; Jenee Lutz; Sarah Manduca; coach Trix Kannekens-Baker
The runner-up Calgary Dinosaurs: Meagan Koch; Denise Page; Erin McAlister; Kwynn Blazina; Kim Harris; Kara Haines; Heidi Suderman; Kerry Funk; Julie Dayman; Cheryl Corrigan; Amy Wesseling; coach Shawnee Harle
The champion Victoria Vikings: Lisa Koop; Lisa Bright; Kirstin Brown; Rachel Sexton; Cindy Mavety; Audrey Dennison; Kerri-Anne Butterworth; Janet McLachlan; Megan Dalziel; Lily Grohovac; Angela Mangan; Claire Knechtel; coach Kathy Shields