The Martlet

Every team but one will end their season in a loss, and this year, the UVic women’s basketball team will not be that winner.

The Vikes were swept in a best-of-three series on Feb. 25 and 26 against Saskatchewan, who will move on to the CanWest Final Four.

Huskies forward Lindsay DeGroot was all over the court from the start of the series to the finish, averaging 22.5 points over two games. After dropping an 82-64 decision to the Huskies in game one, the Vikes game out firing on all cylinders in the second game. After going up 37-26 after the first half, the Vikes quickly felt their lead slip away.

Injuries ended up biting the Vikes hard, with backup centre Natalie Janssens out, and the team faded down the stretch of the final game. Forward Vanessa Forstbauer drew double duty with the frontcourt health issues, playing 79 of 80 total minutes in the series, during most of which she was guarding DeGroot or point guard Jill Humbert.

“Vanessa [Forstbauer], she’s come up big for us all season and she knew she had to do it this series. I think she guarded every position, she was everything this series,” said head coach Brian Cheng.

Forstbauer had her own thoughts.

“I knew, going in, I was going to be playing a lot of positions; I just had to execute during the games,” she said.

Game one saw Saskatchewan win easily, outscoring the Vikes in every quarter while shooting a blistering 57 per cent from the field. DeGroot lead all with 22, while Humbert and Alicia Wilson each had 13 for the Huskies.

“You have to give them a lot of credit. They’re the third-ranked team in the nation and they showed why,” said Cheng after the game.

Forstbauer and Carmen Lapthorne lead the Vikes with 14 apiece, while Kayla Dykstra scored 13 to go with 12 rebounds.

“We came in with a plan and we know how to beat this team — we just didn’t execute,” said Dykstra, UVic’s leading scorer.

Game two was a different story, as Dykstra lead the Vikes out to a big lead early. After leading by 15 points, UVic lost steam, as the Huskies won the second half 33-13, finishing the game with a 59-50 victory.

“We were a really good team this year, and no one is graduating. We’re just going to get better and I think you’ll be hearing from us next year,” said Cheng, adding that the loss was a hard pill to swallow for the players.

“It sucks, to lose like that in a game we should have won. It really hurts,” said a crying Forstbauer after the end of the second game.

For this relatively young team, the season is over. But with additions made, expect an improved Vikes squad next year, built around the same nucleus of Dykstra, Forstbauer and Debbie Yeboah.