Mariners Win Semi

VIU Mariners – 67
Capilano Blues – 53

The women’s side of the bracket at the PACWEST provincial tournament continued to go chalk with the No. 1-seed VIU Mariners defeating the No. 4 Capilano Blues 67-53 Friday night in the semifinals.

Capilano hung with VIU basket for basket through most of the first quarter with Maddy Coffin making a couple of tough buckets but the Mariners closed the opening frame with a three from Allison Bentley, a layup from Mackenzie Hall and a three-point play by Harriette Mackenzie right before the buzzer.

The perimeter defending of Mariners guards Margarita Salas and Makayla Kimble made life tough for the Blues guards all night as they had trouble finding lanes to the hoop. When they did get inside, the length of VIU’s Hall and Mackenzie resulted in a lot of altered shots.

A three from Kim Tiu was a high point for the Blues offence in the second quarter while VIU got six points in the frame from Mackenzie Cox who finished the half with an exclamation point, converting a buzzer-beating layup to put the Mariners up 17 at half.

Blues forward Barcha Hnizdilova began to get on track in the third quarter after a slow start to the tournament and scored all 10 of her points in the second half. Capilano chipped away at the VIU lead in the final frame, getting within 10 at 63-53 on a Lauren Tomlinson layup but it proved to be the final Blues bucket of the night.

VIU advances to the gold-medal game which goes at 5:30 p.m. Saturday against the No. 2-seed CBC Bearcats

Capilano will play for bronze at 12:30 p.m. Saturday against Douglas College.