CIS News

After putting up a dominant quarterfinal performance, the Windsor Lancers were equally impressive in the second semifinal of the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS Women’s Basketball Championship.

The Lancers defeated the Saskatchewan Huskies 75-61 Saturday afternoon at the PEPS Gym of Université Laval and will now have a chance to match a record by winning a fifth straight Bronze Baby trophy.

Leading by 12 points after the first quarter, the OUA champions were never really pressed during their semifinal victory.

They now face a tough test against the McGill Martlets Sunday at 1 pm Eastern time.

With a win, Windsor would match the five consecutive national titles won by Laurentian from 1975 to 1979. At the individual level, fifth-year guards Korissa Williams and Jocelyn LaRocque could become the first players ever awarded five CIS women’s basketball rings.

“Obviously we are very pleased with the game. We thought both teams played strong, which we expected in a semifinal game.

We are very happy to be out of it with a win,” said Lancers coach Chantal Vallée. “I think we stayed focussed, at least I hope so as a coach! The girls wanted to play in the big game tomorrow.”

Vallée does not expect tomorrow’s match to come easy. “It’s going to be a tough game, we played McGill at Christmas and it was really tight.

They just had an outstanding semifinal on their own and I am sure they are going to be ready.”

Saskatchewan will hope to end on a high when they play for the bronze medal Sunday at 10 am Eastern.

They will meet the UBC Thunderbirds, a team that has already beaten them 69-68 in the final of the Canada West conference. The Huskies will also hope they can improve on their fourth-place finish a year ago.

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The most exciting game at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS Women’s Basketball Final 8 tournament so far saw the McGill Martlets reach the final for the first time in school history by beating the UBC Thunderbirds 59-57 in overtime on Saturday afternoon at the PEPS Gym of Université Laval.

Both teams traded leads throughout in a hard-fought battle between the second- and third-ranked teams in the country.

In a fitting end, it was the Martlets who hung on in the dying seconds to earn a chance at the national title.

Given the success of the program and in 10 trips to the National tournament, McGill has never finished higher than grabbing a Bronze Medal dating back to 1996.

They become the first team from Quebec to reach a national final since the Laval Rouge et Or of 2002.

On Sunday at 1 pm, the Martlets will certainly write history when they face the winner of the other semifinal matchup between the Saskatchewan Huskies and the Windsor Lancers in the CIS championship final.

Hockey

Marie-Pier Arsenault’s two goals for the seventh-seeded Moncton Aigles Bleues helped them to overcome the No. 4 Alberta Pandas 4-1 in the second consolation semi-final Saturday morning at the 2015 CIS women’s hockey championship in Calgary.

A thrilling game ended in heartbreak for the University of Alberta Pandas as the Montreal Carabins took a 4-3 victory to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the 2015 CIS women’s hockey championship in Calgary.

With 7:51 remaining in the third period and the teams tied 3-3, the rebound off a shot from Carabins forward Marion Allemoz deflected off the Pandas’ Deanna Morin and into the net to advance Montreal to the national semi-final.

Sixth-seeded Montreal moves on to play No. 2 Western in the late semi-final Saturday at 6:30 p.m MT (8:30 p.m. ET) live on Sportsnet ONE, looking to qualify for a fourth consecutive national championship game.

Alberta will face Moncton in a consolation semi-final Saturday at 11 a.m. MT (1 p.m. ET).

Despite being down by a goal with less than 10 minutes to play in the third period, the Carabins’ displayed a valiant comeback, with the tying goal and the winning goal coming less than one minute apart.

“I’m very proud, especially of the way we came back from behind, said Carabins head coach Isabelle Leclaire.

“Very honestly this didn’t happen much this season this is where maybe we struggled a bit when we were behind in the game. It has been a tougher this year in that aspect so I’m very happy that we came back.

I knew [the Pandas] were a very good defensive team, I knew they were intense in every aspect of the game and that they had a great goalie and that’s what they showed tonight.”

Thanks to CIS Athletics for the info.