The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades women’s basketball team fell 71-65 to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, 71-65 Saturday in the Canada West bronze medal game.
But UFV’s season is still alive, as they have earned a berth in the CIS East Regional tournament.
They’ll travel to Ottawa this week for the tournament, which is being played at the University of Ottawa’s Montpetit Hall.
The team that wins the four team tournament will receive a berth in the CIS national championship tournament, taking place March 16-18 at the University of Calgary. The Cascades regular and post season record is now 14-8.
The Cascades were sluggish out of the gate against Saskatchewan, with the Huskies jumping out to a nine point lead through one quarter.
UFV tightened up the defence in the second quarter, holding Saskatchewan to just 10 points.
Still, they trailed by seven heading into halftime.
Saskatchewan opened up a double digit lead in the second half and led by 12 points after the third quarter.
The Cascades got within six points and never quit, but the Huskies held on for the win.
UFV finished fourth in Canada West for a second straight season, and head coach Al Tuchscherer was not pleased post-game.
“One half of high level basketball is not going to get it done with the competition we played this weekend,” he said. “For long stretches we competed well, but we must sustain that for 40. We have a few days to regroup before we head to Ottawa, and we look forward to that challenge.”
Mission’s Aieisha Luyken led UFV with 17 points. Chilliwack’s Sarah Wierks scored 14 (36 for the weekend) and added nine rebounds while Kayli Sartori (also from Chilliwack) had 12 points.