By: Lucas Meyer, Dinos Communications
CALGARY - The University of Calgary Dinos welcome arch-rival Alberta to the Jack Simpson Gymnasium for Pack the Jack and Senior Night Thursday, as the program will honour the careers of seniors Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson, Phil Barndt, Lawrie Saunders and Jessica Thielen.
Ogungbemi-Jackson continues his rise up the Dinos and Canada West record books. The Winnipeg native is third all-time in team scoring and will stay there by the end of the season, but he's only 64 points behind eighth all-time in the conference. He's already first all-time in steals and minutes played for Calgary and Thursday night will mark his 96th game started, breaking the old record of 95. He is also only 16 defensive rebounds behind being second all-time in that category. No matter what happens the rest of the way, he has cemented his place as one of the greatest Dinos ever.
Barndt wraps up his short, but pivotal career after two years with the Dinos. The Billings, Montana native transferred from Rocky Mountain College before last season and has been a major part of the team's success this year. Barndt has shown a versatility either starting or coming off the bench in his two years and is currently leading the conference in three-point percentage at 56.2. He's also had massive offensive performances and the team is 5-1 when he scores 10 points or more.
Saunders is one of just two Dinos remaining from head coach Damian Jennings' predecessor, Shawnee Harle, and through the last few years of turnover from coaches and players, has been a key example of stability. She is also the only Dino being honoured from the province of Alberta, as the Alix native played her high school ball at Ponoka Composite High School. Like Barndt, Saunders has been versatile
for her school, stepping in as a starter last season and coming off the bench as a key post this season. After leading her team in blocks last season, she's just two behind teammate Kelsey Lund for the team lead.
For the past two seasons, Thielen's leadership has been an important factor for the Dinos. A transfer from Eastern Washington University, the Jaffray, B.C. native stormed onto Calgary's starting lineup and has made an impact from the start. She has been one of the top rebounders on the team in her two-year stint with the Dinos and has started every game this season.
As for the games themselves, the stakes are high once again for both teams. For the 12-5 men, it's a rematch from December 5th, when the Dinos came from behind and won 90-84 on the road against the Golden Bears. Calgary is coming off a weekend split in Vancouver against the UBC Thunderbirds, including a thrilling 93-92 last Friday night in which Ogungbemi-Jackson hit a three at the buzzer to win the game. But the close loss Saturday dropped them to 12-5, putting them behind Victoria and Saskatchewan at 12-4, but still ahead of Alberta at 11-6. A victory would give Calgary their first season sweep of Alberta since the 2011-2012 season. The Dinos have already clinched a playoff spot, but now they're playing for a chance to host.
The women have also clinched a playoff spot and the big question is whether they will stay in seventh in the division, the last slot to make the postseason, which they cannot go lower than. If the playoffs started today, they would be in a play-in series with the fifth-place team in Pioneer, which would be Winnipeg. At 9-8, the Dinos are right behind 9-7 Victoria and the Vikes are right behind the Wesmen at 10-6. The Dinos are coming off getting swept at the claws of UBC last weekend and in their December matchup with the Pandas, Calgary suffered its biggest loss of the season, 65-33. But Calgary is 7-1 at home this year and only lost 57-55 to Alberta in the preseason at the Jack.
Game time is 6 p.m. For the women, followed by the men at 8 p.m. and the action will also be live on canadawest.tv