SASKATOON, Sask. - Second Team Canada West All-Star Logan Reider recorded a game-high 19 points to lead the top-seeded Saskarchewan Huskies past the Fraser Valley Cascades in the Canada West Semifinals Saturday Night (Mar. 1) on the Ron & Jane Graham Centre Court at the Physical Activity Complex. 

The Cascades, who entered Saturday's semifinal coming off of a hard-fought victory against the Calgary Dinos in the Canada west quarter-finals, did well to keep pace with the conference's top offence early but it would be the Huskie second-half defence which sealed the 63-45 Saskatchewan victory. 

With the win, the Huskies return to the Canada West Championship for the 11th time in the past 10 seasons and will take on the UBC Thunderbirds on their home court next Saturday (Mar. 8) at 5:00 PM. Saskatchewan also simultaneously booked their ticket to the U SPORTS Championships later this month in hosted by their chaampionship foe in the UBC Thunderbirds. For the Cascades, their season has not ended just yet despite the loss. The No. 4-seed in the conference playoffs will now head to Edmonton to take on the Alberta Pandas in the Canada West Bronze Medal Game, with the winner advancing to nationals.

Leading by seven at the half, the Huskies No. 1-ranked defence took over coming out of the break, holding the visiting Cascades to just 16 second half points to secure their second playoff victory.

"It was a tough game, it took us a long time for us to get some separation," said Lisa Thomaidis, who will be going for her 10th Canada West title as head coach of the Huskie program next weekend. "UFV plays tough D[efence] and I thought they frustrated us a bit at the offensive end. Logan [Reider] came out [of the game] with 17.5 [minutes], so we kind of rode her a bit in the first half and then I thought we had some great contributions from people coming off the bench."

"Anna [Maelde] was fantastic, she played some great defense, hit a huge 3 when we needed her, and I thought Maya [Flindall] stepped in and played some huge minutes for us and picked up the offensive firepower. And Ella [Murphy Wiebe] same thing, I thought it was a good sign of us having to rely a bit on our depth."

That depth saw 25 of the Huskies 63 points come from the bench, including 22 from the trio of Maya Flindall (10), Ella Murphy Wiebe (8), and Anna Maelde (4). 

After the opening frame saw both teams jockey for the lead, 10 turnovers from the visiting Cascades would give the Huskies a four-point lead despite being out-shot 43 to 25 percent. After Saskatchewan opened the second with an 0-8 run, Fraser Valley looked to their perimeter shooting to get them back in the game. However, a 1-for-7 performance saw the home team extend their lead, taking the quarter 18-15. 

The second half was when the Saskatchewan depth began to show, with just two points coming from USask starters in the third quarter. It would also see the Dogs' relentless style of defence opponents have had the displeasure of becoming accustomed to, take over as the highlight of the game.

The Huskies forced 15 turnovers in the final 20 minutes, while committing just five of their own in the third, and three in the fourth to secure the victory. 

"Well we just really got out classed tonight and we weren't up for the challenge to play at this level," said Fraser Valley head coach Al Tuchscherer following the game. "There's going to have to be a big shift in in what we do if we're going to think about competing next week."

For the Cascades, Second Team All-Star Maddy Gobeil led the way with 12 points in the contest, followed by Esther Allison with eight and Nikki Cabuco with seven.

Tipoff for the Canada West Championship is set for 5:00 PM next Saturday, with tickets available at HuskieTickets.com.