The University of Victoria Vikes women’s basketball team wanted to test themselves against the best in the country.
They got that wish Friday night against the University of Regina Cougars, the No. 2-ranked team in Canadian Interuniversity Sport.
And the Vikes passed with flying colours, beating the Prairie Division-leading Cougars 61-58 in front of a raucous crowd at McKinnon Gym, ending Regina’s 11-game winning streak.
“It was huge, huge win,” said Vikes coach Dani Sinclair, whose team improves to 9-4 on the season.
“We lost a couple just before Christmas and we knew we were going to have to come back and beat some teams ahead of us, and tonight we did that.”
And they can thank their buzz saw of a rookie, Tessla Rennie. The American from Red Lodge, Montana, via Everett Community College, was all over the floor and the Cougars had no answer. Rennie scored a season best 15 points off the bench and chipped in five rebounds. And it was Rennie’s easy short jumper with 13 seconds left that gave the Vikes the three-point lead.
“Rennie was certainly the difference tonight. She played above her season norm,” Cougars coach Dave Taylor said as his team’s record drops to 11-2. “We know the Vikes are a talented group. I mean, Debbie [Yeboah] is Debbie and Cassandra [Goodis] will do her thing, but Rennie really had a strong game and she was the difference.”
Rennie says she and the Vikes, ranked No. 9 in CIS, had little problem coming up with their best effort of the season.
UVic stormed out of the gate and had a 21-12 lead after the first quarter, silencing the No. 1-ranked offence in Canada West.
“That was a really satisfying win, especially for me personally,” Rennie said. “I started doing stuff I know I can do — running the floor back and forth and working really hard. It was fun out there. We all played great.”
The speed of Rennie, Yeboah, who finished with a team-high 17 points, and Jessica Renfrew caused the Cougars headaches all game.
“We knew their size could hurt us, but we also knew our speed could hurt them, and it certainly did tonight,” added Sinclair.
The Cougars had one last shot to tie it but Regina’s star fifth-year point guard Michelle Clark came up short on a buzzer-beating three-point try.
“You have to tip your cap to the Vikes. They came out and outworked us right from the opening tipoff,” Taylor said. “They had energy and drive, and we just didn’t respond to it.”
The Cougars did crank it up in the second quarter, outscoring the Vikes 17-7 to take a 29-28 lead into the half. Clark finished with a game-high 22 points.
Goodis more than held her own against her fellow point guard, handing out nine assists and chipping in seven points and seven rebounds. And rookie Jenna Bugiardini had her best game of the season for the Vikes, picking up 12 points and three rebounds.
In the men’s game that followed, the Vikes jumped all over the Cougars early never looked back.
UVic bounced back from a pair of tough losses in Winnipeg last weekend, to beat Regina 79-55 and improve its record to 8-5.
Terrell Evens was a one-man wrecking crew for the Vikes, scoring a game high 26 points and chipping in seven rebounds and six steals.
The 5-8 Cougars were no match for the Vikes’ stingy defence, which continues to be No. 1 in Canada West. Rookie Kyle Peterson added 12 points for the Vikes, while fellow rookie and Edmonton native Brin Taylor had two key three-pointers in the fourth quarter to ice it.
Both Vikes teams are back at it tonight as the Brandon Bobcats pay a visit to McKinnon Gym. The women’s game tips off at 5 p.m., followed by the men at 7. The Brandon women entered Friday night’s action winless at 0-12, while the men had a 3-9 record.
