M’Bikata nails clutch free-throws to complete weekend sweep for Blues

The CapU Blues (2-1) hosted the VIU Mariners (2-1) in an exciting Saturday afternoon match-up at the Sportsplex in North Vancouver. After a tight first quarter, the Mariners were able to pull away right before the quarter break with a nice transition basket by fourth-year forward Sienna Pollard to extend their lead 18-13. A beautiful pass by Ashley De La Cruz to Amber Kavanagh brought the Blues within four points going into halftime, 29-25. Leading the way at the half for the Mariners, third-year guard Sara Simovic (10 points) and Pollard (9 points and 7 rebounds); third-year forward Carmel M’Bikata was able to convert around the rim ending the half with 13 points and 6 rebounds for the Blues.

To shift momentum with a minute left in the third quarter, rookie Reiko Ohama hit a deep three to bring the Blues within two, 44-42 heading into the final quarter.  Michelle Errico converted a deep three and beautiful pull-up jumper back-to-back with eight minutes left in the fourth to put the Blues up 49-46. With under four minutes to go in the game, rookie point guard Cyrille Butac hit a baseline three to extend the Blues lead 56-52. Back-to-back baskets by Pollard and a clutch three by Simovic brought the Mariners back and put them up 59-58 with 2.5 seconds left in the game. M’Bikata was fouled as time expired and headed to the free-throw line. She converted both with no time on the clock to give the Blues the victory over the Mariners, 60-59.

Simovic (20 points, 7 rebounds) and Pollard (19 points, 15 rebounds) led the way statistically for the Mariners, while the Blues received a huge game from M’Bikata (21 points, 11 rebounds) and Errico (16 points).

Head coach Ramin Sadaghiani thought his team played with confidence and attacked the basket well in the second half, “it’s a nice win, we can enjoy the win, but in the big picture it doesn’t mean a lot. We need to keep getting better at practice everyday and not let these kinds of wins get in our heads too much.”

A great team performance by the Blues including strong contributions off the bench, “Natasha Reimer came in an gave us some good minutes defensively and on the glass, Cyrille did a good job running the point for us and Reiko hit some big shots and penetrated well.”

Emily Wright,  CapU Sports Information Director