REGULAR SEASON
| Regina | 15-5 | 27-6 | Christine Stapleton | ||
| Winnipeg | 12-8 | 24-11 | Tanya McKay | ||
| Manitoba | 9-11 | 13-15 | Coleen Dufresne | ||
| Brandon | 3-17 | 3-25 | Don Thomson | ||
In the semis, Winnipeg defeated Manitoba 53-46; 81-69 (2g-0). …………………………………………………… In game one, Winnipeg defeated Manitoba 53-46 after taking a 25-23 lead at the half. Erin Soroko led Winnipeg with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Heidi Schwartz added 12 points and 8 steals. Cheryl-Jean Paul led Manitoba with 15 points and seven rebounds. Lynda Guy added 9 points and eight rebounds. …………………………………………………… In game two, Winnipeg defeated Manitoba 81-69 as Erin Soroko scored 26 and nabbed 7 boards. Heidi Schwartz added 18 points. Cheryl-Jean Paul scored 17 for Manitoba and grabbed 8 boards. Lynda Guy hit 20 and grabbed 7 rebounds. The Bisons (coached by Coleen Dufresne) also included Gabi Macra, Megan Dixon, Melissa Stoesz, Jayne Legal-Antoniuk, Dana Friesen, Erin Giesbrecht, Anna Drewniak, Ola Samborska, Christina Blouw, Andrea Tully, Michelle Edwards and Athahe Orr.
In the other semi, Regina defeated Brandon 74-36; 76-63 (2g-0). …………………………………………………… In game one, Regina thrashed Brandon 74-36 despite a sloppy first half. “It’s playoff ball and I’m just not pleased that it took us a half to start winding it up,” said coach Christine Stapleton. “Our whole game management was very poor, especially in the first half.” The Cougars led 36-22 at the half despite shooting less than 30 per cent from the floor. “We got a little talking to at halftime and we deserved it,” said guard Bree Burgess, who scored 9. “Our offence was all right, the shots just weren’t falling for us. It seemed like there was saran wrap on the rims, but that’s going to happen in some games, so the defence has to pick it up.” Stapleton said the Cougars were saved by their defence. “I think our defence is just excellent right now and that does win a lot of games. But we’re not rebounding that well … and we’re not getting what we need from our guards right now. We need them to shoot the ball better so things can open up. Teams are going to pack it in (the paint) and say, `Hey, shoot it.’ Unless you start putting some of those down it’s not going to be a long playoff run.” Brandon coach Don Thomson said his troops played with abandon. “We have nothing to lose. Our goal is to go out there, play for 40 (minutes) and see what happens. The U of R is a very solid, talented team. But I thought our kids really rose to the challenge for the first 30 minutes of the game. In the last 10 minutes, when we needed to step up, we struggled. We didn’t take care of the ball and that was due to their pressure.” Andrea Gottselig had game-highs in points (20) and steals (nine). “She was a true leader in every sense of the word,” Stapleton said. “Now the rest of the girls have to see their leader doing that. She wants to get it done and there are some other veteran players on our team who have to get it done too.” Gottselig said she was having fun out there. “I kind of felt like my first year. I was just going all over the place and running everywhere. It felt good.” Cymone Bouchard, who was named the GPAC rookie-of-the-year, added 17 points for Regina. Corrin Wersta had 12. Patricia Wood led Brandon with 6. …………………………………………………… In game two, Regina defeated Brandon 76-63. Despite the loss the Bobcats were elated with their performance. “It was a nice way to end your season — on an upbeat note,” Brandon fifth-year forward Tara Dale said after her team put up a surprisingly good fight. “We came in, worked hard and gave it everything we had, so it’s nice to end it that way.” Regina’s Corrin Wersta, who scored 23, said “getting it done in two games is something we wanted to do. You don’t want to drag it on too long because an extra day’s rest is good before we prepare for the next game.” Coach Christine Stapleton said “it’s very difficult to coach this team right now because we’re not really playing with the consistency that we need. We saw flashes of brilliance and I can take those flashes and pound it into their heads. We have to get there all the time. The biggest thing right now is consistency — from half to half from game to game from player to player — right across. Right now it’s not there.” Brandon hit .610 from the floor. “Normally one of our defensive goals is to keep the opposition under 35 per cent and we didn’t get that done,” Stapleton said. Brandon trailed 41-32 at the half and pulled within five in the early minutes of the second. But Regina, playing without fifth-year forward Andrea Gottselig (mild concussion), picked its game up a notch and eventually took a commanding lead. “That’s as good as I’ve seen Brandon play,” commented Stapleton. “They played very, very hard and that’s one of things I talked to the girls about. We have to learn from them on how hard you need to play.” Bree Burgess scored 15 points for the Cougars. Tara Dale led Brandon with 15. The Bobcats (coached by Don Thomson, assistant Greg Zevediuk, manager Amanda Sowiak) also included Ambur Hamilton, Kimberley Bosnick, Allison Roberts, Andrea Van Kool, Margot Jestadt, Christy Oleskiw, Michelle Smith, Melissa Moore, Patricia Wood, Kaili Dale, Nicole Ashmon, Desiree Streit, Andrea Van Koll, Melissa Moore, Heather Couzens, Courtney Despiegelarere and Kim Duswiuk.
In the finals, Regina defeated Winnipeg 62-50; 65-51 (2g-0).
In game one, Regina defeated Winnipeg 62-50 as rookie Cymone Bouchard scored 16. “We call her the X-factor,” Cougars coach Christine Stapleton said. “Cymone and I had a nice chat this week and I told her she has the potential to be (the difference) for our team. And you saw it (last night).” Bouchard and the Cougars defence, proved the difference. “I was nervous,” admitted Bouchard, who added game-highs in steals (seven) and offensive rebounds (five). “It’s the GPAC finals; everybody is going to be nervous. I wasn’t when I first came to the gym but when I walked in there and saw all the fans I felt the butterflies in my stomach. You can’t play nervous. You just have to play intense all the way through.” Stapleton said Bouchard is “fearless out there. She plays at a 100 per cent level all the time. Not only did she get some steals on defence and make some really nice open looks, but she got her hands on a lot of rebounds. Those are the second-effort points that are just pure guts. We don’t teach those. You just go do them.” Regina took a 31-28 lead into the break, then a 10-0 run midway through the second half put the outcome out of reach. “They went on a run and we didn’t answer,” noted Winnipeg coach Tanya McKay. “We didn’t board and we turned the ball over. Instead of stepping up and not allowing them to take the run, we allowed it to happen.” The Cougars won the rebounding war 38-32 and scored 21 points off turnovers, compared to 10 for Winnipeg. Both teams shot under 40 per cent from the floor. “We made the defensive stops,” explained Cougars guard Bree Burgess, who contributed 15 points — nine of which came from three- point range. “We were making them in the first half and we just continued to make them. We struggled a bit on offence but we continued to make the defensive stops. And when that’s happening we’re bound to score offensively.” Stapleton said “we prepared all week for them to come in and try to force us off balance and spread our offence out. I thought we did a decent job of breaking that down.” Winnipeg was led by GPAC player-of-the-year Erin Soroko, who scored 19 points. Brooke Bender and Heidi Schwartz added 10 apiece. Corrin Wersta contributed 13 for Regina.
In game two, Regina captured its second consecutive GPAC title with a 65-51 victory. “This is a really big deal for us,” said fourth-year forward Becky Poley, who scored 15 points and added a game-high 12 rebounds. “It’s a really tough conference and we’re definitely going to enjoy this for a couple days. But once we’re on the plane to nationals, it’s back to business with a new goal in mind.” Fifth-year forward Andrea Gottselig noted that “it felt good the first time around but when you do it twice in a row it feels even better. We came off Friday’s game (a 62-50 victory) with some momentum. We had one lull in the game and other than that we gave everything we had.” Regina led 36-22 at the break on the strength of a 21-6 first-half run. Winnipeg narrowed the gap to 52-44 midway through the second but came no closer. “We played well,” said Wesmen coach Tanya McKay. “(Regina) averaged 86 points a game and two nights in a row we held them below their average, so that’s all I can ask for from my kids. They played hard on defence. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t put the ball in the hoop.” The Cougars also out-rebounded Winnipeg 43-28 and held the opposition to 36 per cent shooting from the floor. “It feels so great and it’s especially great because everyone played so well,” said Poley. “The whole game we felt we were in control, which makes it feel that much better.” Cougars coach Christine Stapleton noted that “we’ve worked hard all year to get ourselves right back here. It’s such a long journey through our ups and our downs and to get ourselves back here and win it in two (straight games) again is tremendous.” Corrin Wersta led all scorers with 18 points. Erin Soroko paced the Wesmen with 15. Gottselig contributed nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists. “I knew the fifth-year award presentation was going to be today and I thought it would be a little emotional,” she admitted. “My teammates were bugging me before the game so they kept me smiling and not crying,” Gottselig said.
The runner-up Winnipeg Wesmen: Tseghereda Andu; Sara Henneberry; Jackie Presley; Stephanie Dyck; Erin Soroko; Teresa Hildebrand; Sally Kaznica; Brooke Bender; Heidi Schwartz; Jessica Cottingham; Angela Willerton; Heather Thompson; Marsha Murdock; coach Tanya McKay
The champion Regina Cougars: Corrin Wersta; Heather Dedman; Becky Poley; Bree Burgess; Andrea Gottselig; Rumali Werapitiya; Christa Lapointe; Phoebe De Ciman; Crystal Heisler; Cymone Bouchard; Kaela McKaig; Tenille Kirkland; Tara-Lee Crosson; coach Christine Stapleton; assistant Dave Taylor; assistant Diane Hilko