All Island Semi-Final
The VIU Mariners and Camosun Chargers battle in Friday's semi-final
#3 Camosun Chargers @ #2 VIU Mariners – Friday March 3, 12:30pm | WATCH HERE
It’s an all-Island battle in this PACWEST semi-final when the Mariners and Chargers meet with a berth in the gold medal game on the line.
The Mariners earned a first round bye as the second seed and should be well rested when they take on the Chargers. They come into the playoffs winning their last four games and have with them the PACWEST Player of the Year in Harriette Mackenzie. They faced the Chargers three times during the regular season and won all three but haven’t seen them since January 14th. That said the games were close and hard fought.
In the meantime, the Chargers had a difficult game with the Langara Falcons in Thursday’s quarterfinal and did not shoot the ball well. They held on for a 59-49 win but shot 29% led by Chelsea Espenberg and her 17 points thanks in large part to five-three pointers. Their defence forced 31 turnovers and they collected 20 steals in the win, but on the flipside did cough up the ball 22 times.
The last time they met in the postseason was in 2020 in this very semi-final with the Mariners scoring a 74-51 win shooting 34%. CJ Buckley and Kayla Gregory are the two players that remain on the roster today that played in that game combining for 13 points. There is no one on today’s Chargers roster that appeared in that game, but Chloe Scaber who is now a Mariner, played for the Chargers at that time and scored 15 points. The Mariners went onto win gold that season, while the Chargers finished fourth.
The winner will play for gold while the loser will play in the bronze medal game.