WBB: Calgary books trip to nationals with road semifinal win over Regina
February 24, 2023
The University of Calgary Dinos outlasted the Regina Cougars for a 71-62 victory on Friday night in a Canada West semifinal matchup at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport on the U of R campus.
Bobbi-Jo Colburn was brilliant off the bench for Calgary, going 7-for-9 from the field including three three-pointers to score a game-high 21 points in 25 minutes played.
Calgary's victory not only sends the Dinos to next weekend's Canada West final, but also locks up one of Canada West's two automatic berths to the U SPORTS Championship hosted by Cape Breton University.
"It was a grinding game tonight," Dinos head coach Damian Jennings said. "It came down to turnovers and it came down to rebounds like any tough playoff game does. We both had some dry spells offensively, so it came down to some little things that we did well."
Annacy Palmer added 17 points for Calgary in the win.
Regina was led once again by Jade Belmore, who finished just short of a double-double after collecting 19 points and 9 rebounds. Dayna Pearce and Zoe Hartmann both hit three triples and finished with 13 points and 11 points, respectively.
The two teams played to a dead heat in the first half as the two teams went into the break knotted at 30-30. Calgary went on an 8-0 run at the end of the third quarter, but that was immediately answered by a Regina 8-0 run capped by a Hartmann three that tied it up at 48-48 early in the fourth.
Calgary took the lead for good on a Colburn three-pointer with a little over four minutes left. The Dinos scored on three consecutive possessions which put them up seven and while a Pearce triple got the Cougars back to within two points, Calgary immediately responded with a Palmer bucket off a nice pass from Mackenzie Trpcic to make it a two-possession game with under a minute to go. Calgary got a defensive stop and then sealed the win at the free throw line, hitting seven of eight attempts from the stripe in the final 30 seconds.
The Cougars will now watch the out-of-town scoreboard with keen interest as they'll be in contention for the lone at-large bid to the U SPORTS tournament.
"We had a good start, but we got a little rattled in the second quarter," Taylor said. "They took us out of it a little bit, and we weren't able to respond in the second half. We turned the ball over too much, and that was the difference tonight."
Calgary will play either Saskatchewan or Alberta in the conference final next weekend as those two teams match up on Saturday night in Saskatoon in the other Canada West semifinal. Calgary will travel to Saskatoon to face the Huskies if the U of S wins that game, or would host the Canada West final if No. 4-seeded Alberta can pull off the upset.
Bobbi-Jo Colburn was brilliant off the bench for Calgary, going 7-for-9 from the field including three three-pointers to score a game-high 21 points in 25 minutes played.
Calgary's victory not only sends the Dinos to next weekend's Canada West final, but also locks up one of Canada West's two automatic berths to the U SPORTS Championship hosted by Cape Breton University.
"It was a grinding game tonight," Dinos head coach Damian Jennings said. "It came down to turnovers and it came down to rebounds like any tough playoff game does. We both had some dry spells offensively, so it came down to some little things that we did well."
Annacy Palmer added 17 points for Calgary in the win.
Regina was led once again by Jade Belmore, who finished just short of a double-double after collecting 19 points and 9 rebounds. Dayna Pearce and Zoe Hartmann both hit three triples and finished with 13 points and 11 points, respectively.
The two teams played to a dead heat in the first half as the two teams went into the break knotted at 30-30. Calgary went on an 8-0 run at the end of the third quarter, but that was immediately answered by a Regina 8-0 run capped by a Hartmann three that tied it up at 48-48 early in the fourth.
Calgary took the lead for good on a Colburn three-pointer with a little over four minutes left. The Dinos scored on three consecutive possessions which put them up seven and while a Pearce triple got the Cougars back to within two points, Calgary immediately responded with a Palmer bucket off a nice pass from Mackenzie Trpcic to make it a two-possession game with under a minute to go. Calgary got a defensive stop and then sealed the win at the free throw line, hitting seven of eight attempts from the stripe in the final 30 seconds.
The Cougars will now watch the out-of-town scoreboard with keen interest as they'll be in contention for the lone at-large bid to the U SPORTS tournament.
"We had a good start, but we got a little rattled in the second quarter," Taylor said. "They took us out of it a little bit, and we weren't able to respond in the second half. We turned the ball over too much, and that was the difference tonight."
Calgary will play either Saskatchewan or Alberta in the conference final next weekend as those two teams match up on Saturday night in Saskatoon in the other Canada West semifinal. Calgary will travel to Saskatoon to face the Huskies if the U of S wins that game, or would host the Canada West final if No. 4-seeded Alberta can pull off the upset.