Mike Still, Bison Sports
WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Wesmen took an early lead and never relinquished it on route to a 68-64 win over the Manitoba Bisons on Saturday afternoon at Investors Group Athletic Centre.
Conference-leading scorer Faith Hezekiah led the way with 28 points and 18 rebounds for Winnipeg, while Manitoba was paced by 17 points from guard Taylor Randall.
It was also the annual Seniors' Game, as Nicole Konieczny, Claire Harvey, Tiara Licsi, and Tianna Mighty were honoured for their services in the brown and gold post game.
The storyline coming into this one was how the Bisons would game plan to stop Hezekiah, who was huge in the Wesmen's victory over Manitoba on Thursday.
She was the catalyst in the first period for the visitors again in the rematch, posting ten points on 3-for-7 shooting from the field.
The Bisons started the game cold, despite having some solid looks — especially from the perimeter. But patience and solid defence on Hezekiah got them back into the game, as they went on an 8-0 run to cut Winnipeg's lead to 19-12 after one after trailing by as much as 14 at one point.
Randall, Nicole Konieczny and and Brittanie Parisien all had four points for the hosts after the first ten minutes.
After putting numerous defenders on Hezekiah on Thursday, it was forward Tianna Mighty who handled the bulk of the duties in the first half Saturday. She held strong in the second period, as the Wesmen forward had just four points.
"I think that was something that we needed to address on Thursday," Bisons head coach Michele Sung said postgame regarding guarding Hezekiah. Kudos to [Mighty]. She stepped up and did a great job. There were times when she could've gotten discouraged, because Faith is a good player and she's going to hit tough shots, but I thought she stayed really resilient through 40 minutes."
But the Wesmen— an aggressive team on both ends — dug in on D, keeping Konieczny, Manitoba's most potent shooter, scoreless in the second. Overall, the two teams combined for just 25 points.
Guard Lena Wenke capitalized on some open looks down low and was also able to get to the line, posting four points for Winnipeg, who had a 29-27 halftime lead.
The Bisons shot just 4-for-17 from the perimeter through two, but got the three ball going late from forward Emma Thompson. She tallied five points in the second and eight overall.
Winnipeg continued to live and die by Hezekiah at the beginning of the third, as she had 18 attempts after 30 minutes but only five points after halftime.
Manitoba was hindered by the fact that impact senior Claire Harvey had to sit for most of the third with four fouls, but got inspired play by guard Keziah Brothers, who had five points on some strong play inside.
But the Wesmen answered with Robyn Boulanger. She nailed two critical treys at opportune times as Winnipeg led 49-43 entering the fourth.
Winnipeg continued to play smothering D in the fourth, including some key inside play by Boulanger. But it came back to cost her in the final four minutes, as she fouled out and, in the process, put Manitoba in the bonus.
The Bisons took advantage, driving inside the lane courtesy of Konieczny and Thompson and also got a few big rebounds by Harvey to get to the line, but were unable to cash on all their opportunities — a big storyline all the way through this one.
"It's funny. Sometimes when you spend too much time on something, you end up getting a case of the yelps," Sung said. "We'll get back at it. I still love our opportuniy to win games when we get sent to the free throw line."
Winnipeg, on the other hand, took what was given to them in transition and refused to let Manitoba get within more than four points. Yet again it was Hezekiah who did the damage
With the win, Winnipeg advanced to 8-12 while Manitoba fell to 8-12. They will now await the results of tonight's games as both squads are in the playoffs.