REGULAR SEASON
| Lakehead | 11-5 | 22-13 | Stu Julius | ||
| Winnipeg | 11-5 | 22-16 | Tom Kendall | ||
| Manitoba | 9-7 | 21-13 | Coleen Dufresne | ||
| Regina | 8-8 | Sheila Beckie | |||
| Brandon | 1-15 | Faith Rostad | |||
Although Lakehead and Winnipeg finished tied for 1st at (11-5), Lakehead was awarded first place by virtue of a superior points spread in the four games between the pair.
Playoff non-qualifiers:
Brandon Bobcats: Marie Rohleder, Karen Shier, Sue Kaluzniak, Jenny Saxton, Sara Conlin, Colleen Blimke, Angela Foster, Leanne Cale, Leanne McDonald, Lynne Moore, Kim Avery, Jennifer Saxton, Sandy Little, Janet Lumsden, coach Faith Rostad, assistant Janet Lumsden, manager Cheryl Thomson
Regina Cougars: Penny Patterson, Leslie Treen, Rhonda Eberts, Shari Wilson, Karen Proud, Morgan Kyle, Jennifer Boso, Mary Lou Tourigny, Shelley Henry, Anita LaBrie, coach Sheila Becker, assistant Gary Beckie, assistant Terry Burns, assistant Annette Pfeifer
In the semis, Winnipeg defeated Manitoba 60-54 as Lori Reid bombed 22 from the perimeter while Beth Cochran hit 16 inside and Cathy Holtman 12 in a turnover plagued affair. Winnipeg coach Tom Kendall said the team abandoned its outside game and went inside. ““Sindy (Janzen) was cold. She’s been hitting for us from outside but tonight she was cold and we are a team with an inside game. That’s what we do best. If that’s your bread and butter, you’ve got to keep going to it. You just gotta keep going back where the wealth is.” Winnipeg was ahead by 13 in the second half but Manitoba rallied to within four on a pair of threes by Jennifer George, who scored 16. Kendall said the team got conservative. Winnipeg held Kim Bertholet to 12. Manitoba had seven rookies a very young team. Winnipeg led by eight at the half and were ahead 43-30 before George rallied Manitoba back. “That was our big mistake. We had them down and suddenly we started trying to protect our lead. We laid back and started playing conservatively when we should have kicked them,” Kendall said. Bertholet added 12 for Manitoba. The Bisonettes (coached by Coleen Dufresne, assisted by Cheryl Kryluk and Andy Cheam) also included Jennifer George, Carol Ploen, Sandy Ronald, Cheryl McCombe, Kim George, Ronn Payton, Heather McAdam.
In the finals, Lakehead defeated Winnipeg 66-65; 82-68 (2g-0).
In game one, Lakehead defeated Winnipeg 66-65 in overtime despite 35 points from Beth Cochran and 18 from Cathy Holtman. “We just had no outside shooting,” lamented Kendall. “As a team, we were just 37% from the floor and 60% from the line and Lori Reid was one for 12. In fact, we got just 12 points from everybody else on the team.”
In game two, Jennifer Powley scored 17 and Leslie Edwards 14 to lead Lakehead past Winnipeg 82-68. Cathy Holtman led Winnipeg with 25. Beth Cochran added 24. “They played awfully well and shot excellently,” said Kendall. “We played about 32 good minutes. There was an eight minute stretch in the second half when we didn’t play well. We took some shots we shouldn’t have and shot ourselves out of the game.” Lakehead coach Stu Julius noted that “last year, our main goal was to win the GPAC. After we won it, it seemed the nationals were secondary. This year, we’re not satisfied with just winning the conference. We lost our two GPAC games to Winnipeg. It sort of woke us up. Everyone thought it would be a cakewalk for us. We realize we have a very tough conference.”
The runner-up Winnipeg Wesmenettes: Beth Cochran; Cathy Holtman; Lori Reid; Monica Burchert; Sindy Janzen; Marla Hildebrand; Deb Belinsky; Lisa Mandziak; Arlene Retkau; Elan Ballantyne; Mel Dann; Letta Buizer; coach Tom Kendall; assistant Gail Winston; assistant Sheldon Stashko; trainer Mike Payment; manager April Morton; athletic director Aubrey Ferris; SID Dave Unruh
The champion Lakehead Thunderwolves: Lynne Brown; Leslie Edwards; Jennifer Pawley; Monica Burchert; Doris Burchert; Bernie Francis; Barb Grace; Julia Scott; Astrid Kneipp; Karen Brown; Kathy Gazda; Kim Duffy; coach Stu Julius; assistant Alex Sorenson; athletic director Ken Coffin; SID Sharon Kozak