Photo credit Edwin Tam
WINDSOR, Ont. (CIS) – Justine Colley, the reigning two-time CIS player of the year, tallied a tournament-high 38 points and the second-seeded Saint Mary's Huskies earned their first-ever berth in a national final after using a strong second half to overcome No. 3 Saskatchewan 67-54 in the first semi-final of the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS women's basketball championships on Saturday afternoon.
“We’re ecstatic to be in the national final,” said Colley, whose career-high in AUS action is 43 points, set back in 2010. “Tonight was just one of those games where everything seemed to fall into place for me. But first and foremost it was a total team effort. And we’ll need another good performance like that tomorrow.”
The fifth-year guard shot a formidable 15-of-26 and a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and nearly recorded a double-double, adding nine rebounds, four assists and four steals for SMU. Rachelle Coward tallied 15 points and eight boards while Laura Langille added 12 rebounds in the win.
“We made some adjustments at the half. I thought we were sharper on defence in the second half,” said SMU head coach Scott Munro. “I’ve seen Justine have a number of great games over the years, but not many better than this one. They say your best players need to be your best players in big games, and that’s what she did today.”
Saint Mary's improved its unblemished record to 31-0 against CIS opponents in 2013-14 with the victory, and have also earned their best-ever performance at a national championship. Their highest result previous was a bronze-medal last season.
SMU will play either No. 1 Windsor or No. 5 Fraser Valley in the Final 8 championship game on Sunday at 8 p.m. live on Sportsnet 360.
“We played a very solid first half, we were obviously pleased to go into the break with the lead,” said Saskatchewan bench boss Lisa Thomaidis, who was Colley’s head coach last summer with the senior national team. “They went on a run early in the second half and we just couldn’t stop them. Justine is a great player, and she proved it again tonight. Hats off to Saint Mary’s. They deserve to be in the final.”
The Huskies from Canada West were led by Dalyce Emmerson who recorded 23 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double in a losing cause. Saskatchewan will try to win their second-ever CIS bronze on Sunday afternoon in the third-place match which begins at 5:00 p.m. and will be available live at cis-sic.tv.
The first national semi-final of the day got off to an explosive start with the teams combining for 25 points in the opening five minutes of play. Colley tallied five of her team's first 12 points, while Kabree Howard did the same for Saskatchewan.
Emerson heated up, hitting consecutive lay-ins to put the Canada West champions up by five with three minutes to play in the opening stanza. The Canada West first-team all-star denied an SMU attempt and proceeded to sink both her foul shots after taking some harm under the basket to help increase the lead.
However, six quick points from the AUS title-holders, four of which came from Colley, brought them back within a single point of evening the contest.
The fellow first-team CIS all-Canadians went basket-for-basket soon after, as an Emmerson lay-in from the post was followed by another Colley jumper. The all-star pair put on a show for the St. Denis Centre crowd, combining for 21 points after one quarter of play that had Saskatchewan up 23-20.
Colley went on a tear late in the half, hitting back-to-back floating jumpers to bring her team back within a point of Saskatchewan. After the East Preston, N.S. native drained her third basket in a row off a turnover to even the game at 32-32, Saskatchewan called timeout to stem the AUS Huskies tide.
A three-pointer by Coward with under a minute remaining in the half put SMU back in front. However, Emmerson answered with the final two points of an entertaining first half to put Saskatchewan up 36-35 at the break.
The Prince Albert, Sask. native found Humbert with a back-door bounce pass for an easy lay-in, and followed that with a rebound and put-back on Saskatchewan's next possession to give them a three-point lead. Emerson took a great no-look pass from Howard for the easy lay-in, increasing their lead to five.
Colley responded with a steal and fast-break lay-up, starting an 10-0 run for SMU. Coward swung a three-point basket and Becky Nash grabbed two more points before Emmerson nailed two foul shots to halt the Saint Mary's streak. But Colley would not be denied in the final minutes of the third, netting seven straight points as SMU went on a 22-3 run in the third to take a 56-45 lead in the fourth quarter.
Coward opened the final period with a three to push the lead to 14, and Colley converted another three-point play. Desarae Hogberg hit a three in an attempt to bring Saskatchewan back into the contest but turned the ball over to Colley on her next possession, who maintained SMU's double-digit lead.
Saint Mary's went on to earn their spot in the championship game, holding the top seed from Canada West to single digits in each of the final two quarters.
SMU shot 40.9% from the field compared to 29.8% from Saskatchewan. The rebound battle was a stalemate as both teams picked up 42 rebounds.
STAT LEADERS
SMU 20-15-21-11: 67
SSK 23-13-9-9: 54
Saint Mary’s
Points: Justine Colley (38), Rachelle Coward (15), Laura Langille
(7)
Rebounds: Laura Langille (12), Justine Colley (9)
Assists: Justine Colley (4)
Player of the game: Justine Colley
Saskatchewan
Points: Dalyce Emmerson (23), Kabree Howard (9), Riley Humbert
(8)
Rebounds: Dalyce Emmerson (12), Kelsey Trulsrud (6)
Assists: Kabree Howard (3)
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times EASTERN TIME)
Friday, March 14
13:00 Quarter-final 1: Saint Mary’s 71, Alberta 51
15:00 Quarter-final 2: Saskatchewan 61, Queen’s 52
18:00 Quarter-final 3: Windsor 81, Wilfrid Laurier 53
20:00 Quarter-final 4: Fraser Valley 74, McGill 60
Saturday, March 15
10:00 Consolation 1: Alberta 67, Queen’s 55
12:00 Consolation 2: McGill 58, Wilfrid Laurier 51
15:00 Semifinal 1: Saint Mary’s 67, Saskatchewan 54
17:00 Semifinal 2: No. 1 Windsor vs. No. 5 Fraser Valley (Sportsnet
360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv
*)
Sunday, March 16
15:00 5th Place: No. 7 Alberta vs. No. 4 McGill (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
17:00 Bronze: No. 3 Saskatchewan vs. TBD (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
20:00 Final: No. 2 Saint Mary’s vs. TBD (Sportsnet 360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv *)
* The webcast of all 3 televised games (semifinals & final) will be on pay-per-view basis.
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 55 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:
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