SASKATOON – The University of Saskatchewan Huskies are off to the conference semifinals for the seventh-straight season after they took down the Victoria Vikes 80-75 in Canada West quarter-final action on Thursday, Feb. 20, on Ron & Jane Graham Centre Court at the PAC.
 
"It says a lot about our grit. It was a tough one, but I'm glad we were able to come out on top," said Huskies head coach Lisa Thomaidis.
 
Summer Masikewich, who was named to the Canada West First Team All-Star squad for the first time in her career earlier in the day, was the story of the contest. The fourth-year forward was a dominant presence in the paint all night long, registering 29 points, 15 rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
 
"We have to continually pound the ball inside and make sure she's getting her touches every time down. She did a good job for us down the stretch," said Thomaidis.
 
Despite trailing by 19 points at the end of the opening quarter Victoria refused to go away, as they chipped away at the Saskatchewan lead throughout the contest, but unfortunately for the visitors the early deficit was insurmountable.
 
"A little bit rusty coming out of the bye week, but we came out firing and just couldn't sustain it," said Thomaidis. "They don't give up. Credit to them, they fought hard to the end. They hit some shots, and we went ice cold there for a while and couldn't match them."
 
The Huskies are now only one win away from advancing to the U SPORTS Final 8 and CW Championship game. While for the Vikes, after defeating the Regina Cougars in the CW Play-In game, their season comes to an end with the defeat.
 
"I thought they came out firing, and we came out with a very slow start. We missed some easy ones and had some mix-ups defensively, we didn't get back in transition and gave them too many easy baskets and got away from our game plan early on," said Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair.
 
Ashlyn Day was instrumental in the comeback effort, recording 25 points and six rebounds, with 21 of her team-high points coming in the second half.
 
"They're obviously going to key on her early and when she wasn't scoring, she was 1-7 at half, but she was still doing other things," said Sinclair. "She was being very aggressive defensively, and she didn't shy away from being aggressive, and that allowed things to start going for her. She's a good enough player that eventually something is going to fall."
 
In the final Canada West contest of her career, Morgan Roskelley recorded 13 points and six rebounds on 5-10 shooting, while Marrissa Dheenshaw fell one rebound short of the double-double, with a 17-point, nine-rebound performance.
 
A dominant first quarter was pivotal for the Huskies, as their defence was suffocating in the early going of the contest.
 
Saskatchewan led for 9:42 of the opening quarter and took a 27-8 advantage after the opening ten minutes of action, as they held Victoria off the scoreboard until 4:16 remaining of the quarter.
 
But Victoria started to make their way back into the contest in the second quarter and slowly trimmed the deficit. The visitors closed the half on a 6-0 run to cut the Saskatchewan lead to 14, as the home side took a 41-27 advantage into the locker room.
 
But after being down by 15 with under a minute remaining in the third quarter, the visitors climbed back. A pair of free-throws from Tana Pankratz trimmed their deficit to 13, before Day hit one of her two three-pointers on the night, to get the Vikes back within ten. When it looked like the Huskies would escape the quarter with a double-digit advantage, Victoria connected again from long-range, as a Roskelley buzzer-beating heave from way downtown brought the visitors to within seven.
 
The Vikes continued to claw their way back into the contest, as they cut into the deficit even more at the start of the fourth quarter. Dheenshaw's lone triple of the night stunned the Huskies, as they were all of a sudden looking at a three-point lead.
 
After the team's continued to exchange buckets down the stretch, it was Masikewich who took over down low for the home side, as she went on a personal 4-0 run to give Saskatchewan a seven-point advantage with just over a minute remaining.
 
From there, Saskatchewan was able to ride out the contest, escaping a late flurry from Victoria, which included Day's three-pointer plus the foul with five seconds remaining.
 
The Huskies will take the court at the PAC for the second-straight night at 7:00 p.m., as they look to take down the Thunderbirds.
 
"We had to do some things at the end to secure the victory, and hopefully that will bode well for tomorrow," said Thomaidis.