HUSKIES FINISH FOURTH IN STANDINGS2013-02-16

The University of Alberta Pandas used strong scoring bursts to push past the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 58-48 Saturday afternoon at the PAC in Saskatoon.

With the loss the Huskies drop to fourth in the Canada West prairie division standings, finishing at 13-9 . Alberta, 14-8, moves up to third in the division with the win. The game was the final in the regular season for both teams.

The Pandas took an early lead with an 8-0 run in the opening quarter and gave themselves a 19-15 lead after ten minutes of play.

Game Stats

Alberta opened up its lead in the second going on a 9-0 run. The Pandas frustrated the Huskies offence, holding Saskatchewan without a second quarter field goal until 3:21 remained on the clock.  Alberta went into the locker room with a 37-20 lead, outscoring the Huskies 18-5 in the second.

Saskatchewan came out strong in the second half and looked poised to cut into the Panda lead. Deseree Hogberg rattled in a three and Dalyce Emmerson followed with six straight Huskie points to cut the lead to nine midway through the third quarter.  Alberta shut down any hopes of a comeback by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers and going on another strong 8-0 run.

Emmerson led the Huskies offense with 17 points and four rebounds on the night. Britney Shockey and Kelsey Trulsrud also chipped in with seven points each.

For the second straight night, Anneka Bakker led the Pandas with 13 points while Renee Byrne had 11. Katie Arbuthnot grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.

As the fourth seed in the prairie division, Saskatchewan will travel to face the first place finisher from the pacific division, the University of Fraser Valley Cascades, in a Canada West best-of-three quarter-final series next weekend. Alberta will play the second place finisher from the pacific, the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.