Bearcats Meet Royals

#3 Douglas Royals vs. #2 CBC Bearcats – Friday February 28, 12:30pm | WATCH HERE

Semi-Final Friday opens this afternoon on the women’s side of the bracket when the Royals and Bearcats meet with the winner advancing to the gold game and wins a berth to the CCAA national championship.

The Bearcats earned a bye into the semifinal finishing as the second seed in the standings, while the Royals needed to play and beat the sixth seeded Camosun Chargers on Thursday in a quarter-final to advance.

During the regular season they met four times with the Bearcats winning three of them including a doubleheader at CBC just two weeks ago.  Oddly enough that was the last game the Bearcats played after having a bye during the final weekend of the regular season.  Two weeks ago, the weekend doubleheader was very close with the Bearcats winning by 10 and seven points respectively.

This should be a fascinating game and a Bearcats offence versus a Royals defence matchup.  The Bearcats can score points, averaging over 74 a game led by the two-time PACWEST Player of the Year Elissa Vreugdenhil dropping over 15 a game.  She and fellow All-Star Kagari Tomita have been an excellent 1-2 punch this season.   Their defence has also been very good, allowing 59 points a game.

The Royals’ defence will be tough and won’t allow many easy shots, particularly down low.  Laini Glover shutdown Kanda Diop in the second half during their quarter-final win and will need the same sort of performance today against the Bearcats.  Their defence led the PACWEST, generating over 23 turnovers a game and collecting almost 12 steals each contest.

This is the first time in PACWEST history that these two programs have met in the playoffs. The winner advances to play for gold.