EDMONTON – The The #3-seeded Alberta Pandas won the Canada West Bronze Medal Game with an 83-63 victory over the #4 UFV Cascades Friday night at the Saville Centre.
It is the 13th bronze medal in program history and with the victory advance to the 2025 U SPORTS Final 8 in Vancouver as the third-placed Canada West team. It is their third-straight appearance in the tournament, as they compete for their second national title.
It was an impressive depth effort from the host Pandas, who featured four players who scored in the double digits on a day where they shot an efficient 48.4% from the field.
Claire Signatovich led the way with 19 points, while
Morgan Harris trailed close behind with 16 of her own to go with five assists, two steals, and two blocks.
"It was a fun game to play in. Everyone came to play and performed," said Signatovich. "UFV is a very talented team. Their roster is great. For us to have them push like that, and for us to see we can stop a good team like that, I think it gave us some confidence. You have a good team going at you full force, and to know we can stop them and their run."
Julia Tuchscherer paced the Cascades with 15 points of her own, while Esther Allison was on fire from deep going 4/6 from beyond the arc.
"We played a tough team tonight," said UFV head coach Al Tuchscherer, "Alberta is one of the top teams in the country so it was a real challenge for us tonight."
The Pandas won three quarters and tied another in what was a jump ball-final buzzer complete victory. The Cascades were great at times, but were unable to fully capture the momentum for most of the game as they got behind early. They did shoot the ball well, going 9-for-19 from deep and sporting a 45.5% mark from the field, but had too many empty possessions at critical times to beat Alberta's persistent offence. "We wanted to flow a little bit better offensively," Tuchscherer added, though they did match the Pandas with a 12-0 run in the contest.
A high-octane first quarter kicked this one off as both sides were content sprinting to beat the press and running a lot of their offence through the fastbreak. UFV had an early advantage, paced by Miah Schuurman who hit her first three shots en route to a 14-10 lead. However, the Pandas would explode from there, going on an astounding 16-2 run in which they hit four triples to take the quarter 26-16.
Claire Signatovich led Alberta with seven points, while UFV's Schuurman also recorded seven.
The Cascades would get back in the second, as Esther Allison would hit three huge triples, one to start the frame off at 9:08, and another two inside of the three-minute mark as UFV cut the lead to just 34-31 with 2:22 left in the half. However, a quick 7-0 run from the hosts would take them into the half with a 41-31 lead. Signatovich led all scorers with 11 points as the Pandas offence was clicking, shooting 55.2% from the field in the first half, while UFV was led by Allison who had 10.
The third quarter featured a series of long runs from both sides, starting with a 14-1 run that extended the Pandas lead to 55-32 and the game was certainly at risk of being all but wrapped up. However, led by Deanna Tuchscherer and Maddy Gobiel, the Cascades mounted a 12-0 run of their own to get back into the contest. When the dust settled, Alberta held a 59-46 lead headed into the final frame.
While the Cascades played hard until the end, the fourth quarter featured more Alberta depth scoring in what was a 24-17 quarter and game win. Julia Tuchscherer was a leader for UFV, scoring 10 points in the frame and added a block, but was unable to bring her team back as
Morgan Harris was dominant for Alberta, scoring seven points and adding three assists and a steal as she helped the Pandas move on to the Final 8.
The 2025 U SPORTS Final 8 starts next Thursday, and will see the Pandas compete at the War Memorial Gymnasium in Vancouver, BC as the UBC Thunderbirds host.
