Lance Doucet, Dinos Communications
CALGARY – It did not take long for the University of Calgary Dinos women's basketball team to shake off the holiday cobwebs as they cruised to a convincing 81-41 win over the Alberta Pandas on Thursday night at the Jack Simpson Gym.
The Dinos led in the game almost the entire way, building an early advantage by capitalizing on mistakes from their opponent. Alberta was guilty of 30 turnovers, while Calgary was credited with 19 steals.
Trailing by 11 points after the first quarter, things only went from bad to worse for the Pandas as they struggled to score points, mustering only nine during the second and third quarters.
"As much as the scoreboard looks like it was not a battle, it really was, Alberta did not give up," said Dinos head coach Damian Jennings. "They are a really well-coached team and we had to play well tonight to win."
With the win, Calgary improves their record to 8-3, while the Pandas drop to 5-6 with their first road loss in Canada West play.
Getting off to a quick start, the Dinos ran with every opportunity the Pandas gave them, collecting seven steals en route to a 26-15 lead in the opening quarter.
Third-year guard Vanessa Wild helped keep the Pandas within striking distance with a pair of three-pointers in the quarter. The Pandas would do the majority of their damage from distance, scoring nearly half their points on the evening from beyond the arc.
The Alberta turnovers began to pile up in the second quarter as Calgary built an even larger gap on the scoreboard and held the Pandas to only three points.
Calgary was extremely disciplined during the first half, allowing Alberta only two free throw attempts as they took a 40-18 lead.
"What we have been guilty of in the past is fouling every other play and losing some offensive glass, I don't think we did that tonight," noted Jennings. "It gave us a chance to turn things around and create flow at the offensive end."
Another challenging shooting quarter saw Alberta get outscored 12-6 in the third. With the lead up to 28 points, the play opened up in the final stanza where both teams found their scoring touch for a combined 36 points.
Brianna Ghali and Erin McIntosh scored 23 and 21 points respectively to lead the Dinos. Ghali also posted seven rebounds, second only to Shannon Hatch's eight.
The Pandas received 13 points from Emma Kary.
The home-and-home set between the Dinos and Pandas will resume on Saturday in Edmonton with women's action getting underway at 5 p.m.