WBB: Battle of the titans tips off Friday
Your complete 2023 Women's Basketball Final Four preview
by Brian Swane, special to CW
The top four seeds in the 2022-23 Canada West women’s basketball playoffs are the final four teams remaining as semi-final action tips off this weekend.
In a pair of prairie province matchups, the top-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies tangle with the fourth-place Alberta Pandas in Saskatoon on Saturday, less than 24 hours after No. 2 Regina Cougars host the third-place Calgary Dinos.
The 2023 Canada West women’s basketball playoffs began last weekend with play-in and quarterfinal games to determine the semi-final field.
To stay up-to-date on all the action, visit Championship Central.
WATCH
Catch all games streaming live on Canada West TV.
MATCH-UPS
Regina Cougars vs. Calgary Dinos
Friday, 7 p.m. CST at Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport (Regina, Sask.)
The 2022-23 Canada West regular season was a spectacular one for the Cougars, who won 17 games and went 9-1 in Regina. That one home loss, however, came against their semi-final opponent, as the Dinos beat Regina 86-80 in overtime at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport on Feb. 3.
Both teams rallied from halftime deficits on their respective home courts in last Saturday’s quarterfinal action, as the Cougars topped the Trinity Western Spartans 80-72 in Regina and the Dinos got past the Winnipeg Wesmen 84-74 at Jack Simpson Gym.
The Cougars are 9-0 all-time against Calgary in Canada West postseason play, including a best-of-three semi-final sweep of the Dinos en route to capturing the Valerie Girsberger Trophy in 2018.
Saskatchewan Huskies vs. Alberta Pandas
Saturday, 4 p.m. CST at Physical Activity Complex (Saskatoon, Sask.)
Two wins are all that stand between the Huskies and a fourth consecutive Canada West championship, the longest streak in women’s basketball since the Victoria Vikes won a record six in a row from 1995 to 2000.
After tying with Regina for Canada West’s best regular season record at 17-3, the Huskies opened their defence of the Valerie Girsberger Trophy with a 81-46 quarterfinal win over the UBC Thunderbirds at the PAC last Saturday. The Pandas also had a dominant quarterfinal performance, powering past the Fraser Valley Cascades, 73-54 in Edmonton, for their first postseason win in three years.
Alberta now faces a Huskies team that hasn’t lost a Canada West playoff game in Saskatoon since 2009 and went unbeaten at home during the 2022-23 regular season. This will be the third meeting between the Pandas and Huskies at the PAC in three weeks: Saskatchewan beat Alberta 77-57 and 79-67, respectively, in regular season action on Feb. 3 and 4.