FINAL CIS championship: Windsor wins 1st Bronze Baby, breaks home team curse

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-