Courtesy: University of Windsor sports information /
Photo credit Edwin Tam
WINDSOR, Ont. (CIS) – The top-seeded and tournament host
Windsor Lancers captured the first Bronze Baby Trophy in program
history thanks to a 63-49 win over the No. 2 Saskatchewan Huskies
in the gold-medal final of the CIS women’s basketball Final
8, Sunday evening, at the University of Windsor’s St. Denis
Centre.
Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wbkb
The triumph was historic in more than one way.
In addition to being the Lancers’ first national title, it
marked the first time in the 40-year history of the championship
that a team got to hoist the Bronze Baby on home court. As well,
the victory by the reigning three-time OUA champions put an end to
a remarkable 19-year domination by Canada West schools, including
institutions from the now defunct Great Plains conference.
The last team from outside Canada West to claim the banner was
Laurentian, which won back-to-back titles in 1990 and 1991.
The Lancers also erased the memories of a 77-56 loss to Simon
Fraser in their first trip to the CIS final a year ago in
Hamilton.
For the Canada West champion Huskies, who were playing for CIS gold
for the first time, their season ended with a loss to Windsor for
the second year in a row. Saskatchewan dropped an 82-60 semifinal
decision to the Lancers in 2010 en route to a third-place
finish.
“As much as it hurt last year to lose in the final, I’m
so glad we won this first national title in front of our
fans,” said head coach Chantal Vallée, in her sixth
season at the helm in Windsor. “Their support is phenomenal.
We’ll cherish this win in our own building
forever.”
“In sport, the highs are very high and the lows are very
low,” continued Vallée, who received the traditional
Gatorade minutes after the final buzzer had sounded. “After
we lost the final last year, we were devastated, but we immediately
set a goal of returning to the final this year and this time, get
the job done. And we did it.”
Trailing 16-6 eight minutes into the contest, the Lancers scored
the next 15 points – and 22 of the next 24 – and
outscored their opponents 57-33 the rest of the way.
Windsor held its rivals to 50 or less points in each of its three
games this weekend including an 80-50 rout of No. 8 Laval in
Friday’s quarter-final round and a 56-47 win over No. 4 Cape
Breton in Saturday’s semis.
In the final, the stingy Lancers’ defence held Saskatchewan
to a 30.0 per cent shooting from the floor, including 11.1 per cent
from beyond the arc (2 of 18).
“Credit to Windsor. They’re a great team,” said
Saskatchewan’s Lisa Thomaidis, who was named CIS coach of the
year prior to the tournament. “We’re extremely proud of
our girls. I thought we played hard. We executed our game plan on
defence but couldn’t convert on the offensive end.”
The contest marked the end of the university careers of many
players on a veteran Huskies’ squad that featured four
fifth-year starters.
Reigning Canada West MVP Kim Tulloch, a guard from Regina, guard
Jill Humbert of Saskatoon, 6-foot-2 forward Jana Spindler of Port
Williams, N.S., and 6-foot-1 forward Marci Kiselyk of Athabasca,
Alta., all wore the green and white uniform for the last time.
The Lancers, for their part, were led by a number of rising stars
in the championship match.
Named CIS player of the year on Thursday, 6-foot-3 forward Jessica
Clemençon, a native of France, earned game-MVP honours after
leading all players with 18 points. She also had seven blocked
shots in 35 minutes of court time.
Fellow sophomore Miah-Marie Langlois, a guard from Windsor, tallied
10 points and three assists, and was named tournament MVP.
Freshman Korissa Williams, also from Windsor, finished with an
11-point, 10-rebound double-double in 28 minutes.
Third-year junior Bojana Kovacevic, another local product,
contributed 14 points and nine boards and joined Langlois on the
tournament all-star team, along with Spindler and Saskatchewan
teammate Katie Miyazaki, and Cape Breton’s Kari Everett.
Miyazaki, the reigning two-time CIS defensive player of the year,
was in her first season with the Huskies after winning back-to-back
national titles with Simon Fraser, including last year against
Windsor. The fourth-year guard from Richmond, B.C., never left the
court in the title match and finished with 13 points, nine rebounds
and five steals.
Humbert, who also played all 40 minutes, paced the Canada West
champs with 15 points, but was kept off the score sheet in the
second half. Tulloch also scored in double digits in the losing
cause, with 12 points.
Saskatchewan led 16-11 after the first quarter thanks in large part
to Humbert and Tulloch, who scored nine and five points,
respectively, in the initial frame.
The Huskies used a 9-0 run to open a 16-6 gap by the eighth minute,
blanking their rivals for over four minutes in the process.
Far from panicking, Windsor turned the 10-point deficit into a
10-point advantage in a span of six minutes. The Lancers scored the
next 15 points - and 22 of the next 24 – to go up 28-18 four
minutes into the second stanza.
Windsor led by as much as 13, at 34-21, following a
Clemençon layup with 4:03 left in the half.
At the break, the scoreboard read 34-21 Lancers.
Williams led the locals with nine points at the intermission, while
Humbert remained hot in the second quarter with six more points to
up her total to 15 going into the locker room.
Windsor shot 52.6 per cent (10 for 19) in the second frame to
finish the half at 45.5 per cent (15 for 33). Saskatchewan made
only eight of 27 field goal attempts in the first 20 minutes
(29.6%), including 2-for-9 in the second quarter.
The streaky affair resumed after the break with Saskatchewan
opening the third stanza with an 8-0 run and holding Windsor
scoreless for over four minutes to cut the deficit to a single
point, at 34-33.
Miyazaki tied it at 35 all at the five-minute mark but the Huskies
wouldn’t score again in the period.
Kovacevic kicked off a 9-0 Windsor run with a long three and the
Lancers were up 44-35 heading into the fourth.
Saskatchewan came back to within six points in the first minute of
the final frame, but it was all Windsor from there as the new
champs went up by as much as 16.
GAME NOTES: Windsor ended the season with a spectacular 33-2
overall record versus CIS competition... Saskatchewan, which
finished with a 32-4 overall mark against CIS rivals, had won its
last 29 games versus Canadian university opponents dating back to a
72-65 conference loss to Victoria on Oct. 30... The Huskies beat
No. 7 Laurier 58-51 in Friday’s quarter-finals and No. 6 StFX
58-40 in the semis... StFX's Ashley Stephen received the R.W. Pugh
Fair Play Award...
STAT LEADERS
WIND 11-23-10-19: 63
SASK 16-9-10-14: 49
Windsor
Points: Jessica Clemençon (18), Bojana Kovacevic
(14), Korissa Williams (11), Miah-Marie Langlois (10)
Rebounds: Korissa Williams (10), Bojana Kovacevic (9)
Assists: Heather Angus (4), Miah-Marie Langlois (3), Jessica
Clemençon (3)
Player of the game: Jessica Clemençon
Saskatchewan
Points: Jill Humbert (15), Katie Miyazaki (13), Kim
Tulloch (12)
Rebounds: Jana Spindler (10), Katie Miyazaki (9)
Assists: Jill Humbert (4)
CHAMPIONSHIP
HONOURS
Tournament MVP: Miah-Marie Langlois, Windsor
R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award: Ashley Stephen. St.
Francis Xavier
Tournament
All-Stars:
Miah-Marie Langlois, Windsor
Bojana Kovacevic, Windsor
Katie Miyazaki, Saskatchewan
Jana Spindler, Saskatchewan
Kari Everett, Cape Breton
CHAMPIONSHIP
RESULTS
Friday, March 18
Quarter-final #1: StFX 50, Carleton 44
Quarter-final #2: Saskatchewan 58, Wilfrid Laurier 51
Quarter-final #3: Windsor 80, Laval 50
Quarter-final #4: Cape Breton 58, Toronto 49
Saturday, March 19
Consolation #1: Wilfrid Laurier 56, Carleton 52
Consolation #2: Toronto 82, Laval 79
Semifinal #1: Saskatchewan 58, StFX 40
Semifinal #2: Windsor 56, Cape Breton 47
Sunday, March 20
5th place game: Wilfrid Laurier 64, Toronto 57
Bronze medal game: Cape Breton 67, StFX 53
Championship final: Windsor 63, Saskatchewan 49
-CIS-
