By: Mackenzie Dalgleish
Box Score
Bellingham, WA - The Simon Fraser University Clan women's basketball team concluded their regular season schedule on Saturday afternoon, as the Western Washington University Vikings defeated SFU 72-63.
The Clan got off to a slow start trailing 16-6 midway through the first half but the Clan then charged back, going on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to just two points.
Sophomore Meg Wilson (London, ON) scored six of her 10 points during that stretch to get her team back into the game. Wilson also finished with seven rebounds and a game high seven steals.
"I didn't think we had a consistent effort from everybody," said Head Coach Bruce Langford. "As always when we play here (Carver Gym) we seem to come out a bit tentative, so that hurt."
The two teams would battle back and forth during the remainder of the opening half as the Vikings eventually took a four point, 32-28 lead into the break.
SFU came out of the half with great intensity going on a 4-0 run to tie the game up at 32 following a Rebecca Langmead (Torbay, NL) free throw. After the teams traded baskets, senior Marie-Line Petit (Bergeronnes, QC) made the team's only three-pointer on the afternoon to give the Clan their first lead since the opening minute, 37-36.
Trailing by one six minutes into the second half, Wilson took a nice pass from Kia Van Laare (New Westminster) to give SFU the lead back 41-40.
Picking up the intensity, the teams again battled on both ends of the court in the physical affair, which saw a total of 41 fouls called.
Freshman Ellen Kett (Niddrie, Australia) had a nice drive to the hoop to cut the score to 44-43 Vikings.
A layup by Langmead with 2:27 to play tied the game at 62 but from there Western Washington pulled away for the nine point victory.
Junior Erin Chambers (Mission, BC) scored a game high 23 points, while Langmead added eight points and a team high nine rebounds. Van Laare also contributed eight points and four rebounds.
SFU grabbed 19 offensive boards, which helped the team battle back after trailing by double-digits early, while forcing 17 turnovers and turning them into 19 points.
The Clan end the regular season with a 17-8 overall record and 12-6 in conference play and will await who their opponent will be in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference playoffs.
"Hopefully we can get a couple wins and go to the NCAA tournament. We've got a great non-conference record and a pretty decent season, but we need to be more consistent. When we are we're okay. Defensively we've got to be better than we were today," finished Langford on the team moving forward.
