WBB Championship Preview

Article by Brian Swane, special to CW

Feb. 20, 2024 - When the 2023-24 Canada West women’s basketball season tipped off at the beginning of November, there were 17 teams in pursuit of the Valerie Girsberger Trophy.

Three and a half months later, the field has been narrowed by five, with a dozen teams qualifying for the playoffs.

And now it will be a span of only five days before just one team will be left standing after one of the largest single-elimination events in the history of Canadian university hoops.

From Feb. 21 to 25, the University of the Fraser Valley is hosting the 2024 Canada West women’s basketball championship at the UFV Athletic Centre in Abbotsford, B.C. Competition commences Wednesday with play-in games, followed by the quarter-final round on Thursday. Saturday’s semifinal games will determine the participants in the gold and bronze medal matches on Sunday.

The tournament includes teams with the 12 best regular season winning percentages, seeded by RPI. The Alberta Pandas are looking to defend their championship from a year ago and carry momentum into the 2024 U SPORTS Championship presented by the Westin Edmonton, which the University of Alberta is hosting in Edmonton March 7-11.

Catch all games streaming live or on demand on Canada West TV.

#8 Trinity Western Spartans (12-8) vs. #9 UBC Okanagan Heat (11-9)

#1 Saskatchewan Huskies (19-1) vs. #8/#9 winner

UBC Okanagan just set a program record for most Canada West regular season wins, and now look to win a playoff game for the first time since joining the conference. Trinity Western will rely on defence to prevail: in all 12 of their wins in 2023-24, the Spartans held the opposition to 65 or fewer points.

The Heat are the hotter team coming into this match-up, going 7-5 since the semester break, while Trinity Western is 4-8 in that span. This is the first ever Canada West postseason meeting between UBCO and the Spartans, who have not played each other since January of 2023.

Awaiting the victorious team will be a hungry Saskatchewan team that is looking to get back on top after having its run of consecutive championships ended last year with an upset loss to Alberta in the semifinals. Saskatchewan spent four weeks this season ranked No. 1 in U SPORTS.

#7 Lethbridge Pronghorns (12-8) vs. #10 Victoria Vikes (10-10)

#2 UBC Thunderbirds (17-3) vs. #7/#10 winner

Lethbridge is looking to reverse course after finishing the season with losses in each of its last four games, while the Vikes hope to carry the momentum from a seven-game winning streak to close their schedule.

There is not a lot separating Lethbridge and the Vikes, who finished just two games back of the Pronghorns in the standings. The Pronghorns averaged 66.5 points for and 64.5 points against per game during the regular season, while Victoria scored an average of 66 points and allowed 62 against per game.

The winner plays UBC, which went 2-0 against each of its potential opponents in 2023-24. Under new head coach Isabel Ormond, the T-Birds had one of their best seasons in Canada West, winning 13 consecutive games at one point and finishing with a win percentage of .850. ​

#6 Alberta Pandas (14-6) vs. #11 Mount Royal Cougars (8-12)

#3 Calgary Dinos (16-4) vs. #6/#11 winner

Alberta’s quest to repeat begins against a team it has never played before in the postseason. The Pandas have only ever lost once to the Cougars and won both head-to-head meetings this season, 67-64 in overtime and 61-38 on Kenyon Court.

Mount Royal finished the regular season with their second-best record since joining Canada West in 2012 and are making just their third playoff appearance. The experienced Pandas have eight of the top nine scorers from last year’s championship-winning squad.

An Alberta victory would set up a quarterfinal game against Calgary in what would be a rematch of the 2023 Canada West gold medal game. The Dinos and Pandas split a pair of games this season. Should Mount Royal advance, the Cougars would face their crosstown rivals in the playoffs for the first time. Calgary beat Mount Royal twice at the beginning of January.

#5 Regina Cougars (15-5) vs. #12 Manitoba Bisons (6-14)

#4 UFV Cascades (17-3) vs. #5/#12 winner

Manitoba and Regina kicked off the New Year with a pair of meetings in Winnipeg on Jan. 5 and 6. The Cougars won the first game 96-49, before the Bisons rebounded with a 74-67 victory. That was Manitoba’s first time defeating the Cougars since 2007. Since suffering that defeat, Regina has been one of the hottest teams in the conference, going 9-1 to close the regular season.

This match-up features two of the conference’s top outside shooters; Bisons third-year forward Emily Mandamin, who ranked third in Canada West with a 42.2 three-point shooting percentage, and fifth-year Cougars guard Dayna Pearce, whose 52 three-pointers made were most in the conference.

The winning team gets a quarterfinal date with the host Cascades, who posted their best regular season winning percentage since joining Canada West and are looking to make their first semifinal appearance in a decade.