DAVID LARKINS, Wesmen Athletics

WINNIPEG — The Saskatchewan Huskies showed a young Winnipeg Wesmen team just how quickly things can change against the elite of the Canada West conference.

The Huskies trailed by seven points heading into halftime, but produced a 26-5 third quarter to swing things back in their favour Saturday in a 68-49 victory in a Canada West conference women's basketball game at the Duckworth Centre.

The Wesmen were full marks for their defensive effort in the first half, holding the No. 7-ranked Huskies to 21.9 per cent shooting from the field and 2-for-15 from three. The 23 points were the fewest first-half points scored by the Huskies this season.

"I was really proud of these guys," Wesmen head coach Tanya McKay said. "They came out and they played hard, they defended, they took them on offensively. The tough part was, when we came out in the third quarter, we made adjustments, they made adjustments and we just started turning the ball over and started letting them get by us again and it was tough because you start playing catch-up."

Faith Hezekiah had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Wesmen (1-7) and Farrah Castillo had a team-high 18 points.

The fortunes changed in the third as Saskatchewan upped its defensive intensity, forced the Wesmen into tougher shots and turned those misses into run-outs and a heap of fastbreak points.

"That was key because I thought Winnipeg was playing at their pace and they certainly caused us a lot of problems at our offensive end in the first half," Saskatchewan head coach Lisa Thomaidis said. "I thought we picked up the defensive intensity and we were able to score some easy ones, so I'm happy about the fact we were able to get out and turn them over a bit."

Sabine Dukate, who was 2-for-12 in the first half, finished with 21 points after going 6-for-9, including 3-for-4 from three, in the second half to lead the Huskies (6-2). Summer Masikewich added 14 points and nine rebounds.

Photo: David Larkins/Wesmen Athletics