WINDSOR, Ont. – Canada West second-team all-star Aieisha Luyken recorded a game-high 20 points and the No. 5 ranked Fraser Valley Cascades defeated the No. 4 McGill Martlets 74-60 in the final quarter-final of the day at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS women’s basketball championship on Friday evening.
Luyken shot 5-of-13 from the floor and added six rebounds for the Cascades, who are making their second-straight nationals appearance. UFV finished tied for seventh place in 2013, and are the Canada West finalists at this year’s Final 8. Fraser Valley will play No. 1 Windsor in the second semi-finals Saturday at 5 p.m. at the St. Denis Centre, live on Sportsnet 360 and www.cis-sic.tv.
“It’s exciting. You know we’ve been to two regionals and gone 0-1 and 0-1 and last year was 0-2 at nationals which was disappointing for everybody,” said UFV head coach Al Tuchscherer. “We wanted to come in this year with a little bit different approach to how we prepared and how we carried ourselves and I thought tonight was a good game and it was pretty business-like for us. We’ve got our work cut out for us tomorrow for sure.
“I thought our ball movement was fantastic in the first half and defensively we forced a lot of tough shots. We started to kind of glaze over a little bit in that third quarter and they came at us super hard. All our time-outs, all our quarter time-outs, were just talking to the girls about relaxing and just having confidence in what we do and just finding something to make it happen. They did, so I’m really proud of them. McGill pulled within two at one point and we got some big baskets down the stretch, and that’s a big veteran effort for us.”
RSEQ MVP Mariam Sylla recorded a team-best 17 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double in a losing cause for the Martlets who are appearing in their ninth Bronze Baby tournament. McGill will take on Laurier in the second consolation semi-final on Saturday at noon on www.cis-sic.tv.
“They just outplayed us, plain and simple. Especially early on. I was a bit concerned about their size and physical play. They did a good job a creating open looks,” said McGill head coach Ryan Thorne. “I’m proud of our effort to come all the way back to within two points in the fourth. Unfortunately, mounting that comeback took a lot out of us and we just ran out of energy a little. Meanwhile, they had had a chance to rest some players, so they were fresher at the end.”
The Cascades collected an early advantage, going up 8-0 through the opening three minutes of the contest. A three-pointer from Dianna Ros got the Martlets on the board, but Nataliia Gavryliuk responded with a jumper of her own from beyond the arc, giving Fraser Valley its first double-digit lead of the contest midway through the first quarter.
The Canada West finalists maintained that spread until the final minute when Hélène Bibeau converted a corner three, cutting the lead down to eight heading into the second quarter.
Tessa Hart opened the second with three-point basket, but first-team CIS all-Canadian Sylla responded with some strong physical play in the post, picking up a lay-in off the glass while taking some punishment. After converting her free-throw, the Conakry, Guinea native stuffed a Cascades attempt. Ros drained another three soon after, cutting the deficit down to eight.
However, the Cascades kept pace with the Martlets to maintain a healthy margin throughout the half. Second-team Canada West all-star Luyken dropped her second three-pointer in less than two minutes following a McGill turnover.
Sylla grabbed her own rebound coming out of a timeout and notched two points for the RSEQ champions, but Gavryliuk hit two more long-range jumpers as UFV spread its advantage to 18. However, McGill would cut slightly into Fraser Valley’s lead, going into the half down by 13.
Gavryliuk, a native of Kiev, Ukraine, led both teams with 11 points at half-time, while Sylla had a team-high nine for the Martlets. UFV shot 48.6% in the first half compared to 35.7% from McGill.
Kayli Sartori opened the second-half with a corner three for the Cascades. After a rejection from Sarah Wierks on Sylla, Gavryliuk continued to remain potent on her three-point shot, extending her team’s lead. Bibeau answered with her own three at the other end of the court and Ros nailed a mid-range jumper the Martlets attempted to keep the deficit manageable.
Sensing a bit of a momentum shift, Cascades coach Al Tuchscherer called timeout to talk things over. Coming out of the break, McGill nailed eight-straight points bringing UFV’s lead down to single-digits heading into the final period.
Courtney Bartel snapped McGill’s run at the beginning of the fourth, but Carolann Cloutier responded with a three that kept the Martlet tide alive. Bartel connected on an off-balance jumper, while Ros picked up her own rebound off a missed shot and stepped back from the arc to sink a basket. Soon after Bibeau was fouled on her three-point attempt and calmly made all of her shots from the line to bring the Martlets within four at the 6:48 mark.
After a Cascades timeout, Sylla tallied a put-back off her teammates miss, but UFV answered with three straight points of their own to give themselves a bit more breathing room. A critical three by Luyken pushed the lead back up to nine, and a Martlets turnover on their next possession resulted in two more points for Fraser Valley.
The Martlet offence slowed through the last minutes of the second half, as they failed to make a basket for over four minutes after scoring 10 points in less than four minutes to open the final quarter.
UFV capitalized, re-establishing their double-digit spread and putting the contest out of reach to book a date with the three-time defending champion Lancers in Saturday’s second semi-final match.
Fraser Valley shot 42.4% from the floor compared to 26.9% from the Martlets.