By Larry Read

TRU Sports Information

KAMLOOPS, BC---The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack sent their fans home a little disappointed as they celebrated their Canada West women's basketball home opener.

The Pack led by one after the first quarter (20-19) but wound up dropping a 78-59 decision to the visiting University of Victoria Vikes on Friday night (Nov 9) on the Warner Rentals Court at the Tournament Capital Centre.

 SYNOPSIS

The WolfPack (now 0-3) on the year were outscored 21-9 by Victoria in the second quarter and were down40-29 at the half. It was a deficit that they couldn't recover from.

TRU was led by "McDonalds/TRU Bookstore Leader of the Pack" player of the game Michelle Bos who had a double double: 16 points and 11 rebounds.  Leilani Carney added 14 points with Emily Vilac chipping in with 11.

Victoria had five players in double figures led by Calli McMillan (3^rd year, guard, Victoria, BC) with 21 points coming off the bench.   Amira Giannattasio (5thyear, guard, Hamilton, ON), the Canada West female first star of the week had 16. Ashlyn Day  (2^nd year, guard, Kelowna, BC) contributed 13 points with Aleah Ashlee (3^rd year, guard, Comox, BC)  potting 10 points.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:

(click here)

KEY STATS:

Thompson Rivers :

Michelle Bos (5th year, guard, Surrey, BC): 16 points, 11 rebounds (6 defense), 4 assists 1 block in 29 mins

Leilani Carney (4^th year, guard, Burnaby,BC): 14 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 block in 34 mins

Jordon Haggerty (2^nd year, guard, Saskatoon, SK): 8 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists 1 steal in 28 mins

Emily Vilac (5^th year, forward, Kamloops, BC) :11 points, 4 rebounds (2 each way), 1 assist in 37 mins

VICTORIA:

Cali McMillan: 21 points, 4 defensive rebounds, 3 assists in 27 minutes

Amira Giannattasio 16 points, 3 rebounds (2 offense), 3 assists in 18 minutes

Ashlyn Day: 13 points, 6 rebounds (5 defense), 4 assists, 2 steals in 33 minutes

Aleah Ashlee: 10 points, 9 rebounds (7 defnese), 3 assists,1 block, two steals in 23 minues

Turnovers:

VICTORIA: 16   TRU: 11

Score by Periods:

VICTORIA      19  21  18  20 -- 78

TRU                20   9   17  13 --59

RECORD:

VICTORIA: 4-1       TRU: 0-3

THEY SAID IT!! (post game quotes):

TRU Assistant Coach Chuck Ferguson::

On the Contest: "Not to be tonight. We just didn't execute well enough. You can't shoot the ball the way we did tonight and expect to win games. We weren't active enough on the glass. Prior to the game we said taking care of the basketball, blocking out and getting the rebounds were critical to our success. We fell down on that after the first quarter. We weren't able to make the adjustments in the second half."

Video of post game interview:  click here

 Victoria head coach Dani Sinclair (7^th season):

On outcome: "Happy with the win. I thought we got good contributions from a lot of people. When we were playing well we moved the ball well and found we played inside out and shot the ball well at times. There are things to clean up for tomorrow. There were times that TRU controlled the game and they cut it (deficit) to single digits in the second half and they were starting to go on a run. We have to limit those stretches where they get momentum. Overall, I was happy with our performance."

Video of post game interview:  click here

UP NEXT:

The  WolfPack and the Vikes will meet up again tomorrow afternoon at 5 PM PDT for the second game of this weekend series. All WolfPack games—home and away—are webcast on a pay per view basis on Canada West TV.