BURNABY, B.C. – In the final home game of the season, the Simon Fraser women's basketball team celebrated its three graduating players on Senior Night. Guard Jessica Jones, forward Claudia Hart, and guard Kendal Sands were the three honoured on this special night prior to tip-off against Western Washington. During the pre-game ceremony, the three women delivered a bouquet of flowers to their families and loved ones, followed by a speech of gratitude from head coach Bruce Langford.

"I look forward to watching them in their future careers, I think they will all be very successful in their chosen paths," said Langford.

The senior send-off was capped off by a 69-67 overtime victory over the Vikings, who came into tonight's game ranked sixth in the D2SIDA national poll, and tied for ninth in the WCBA Top 25.

Jones led Simon Fraser with 25 points, followed closely by sophomore guard/forward Jessica Wisotzki with 23. Jones also had six assists and six rebounds. Junior forward Sophie Klassen led SFU with seven rebounds.

Emma Duff, a senior, led WWU with 19 points. Brooke Walling had 17 points and 13 rebounds.

"It was a really big win, and it made it a lot more special that we could do it for our seniors, sending them off with a win against our rivals. It was awesome," said junior guard Swant. "Our threes were dropping a bit more than they have been recently. Personally speaking, I hadn't hit a three in the last three games so it was overdue for me. I'm really happy I was able to hit a few and help the team out in that respect. I think our man defence tonight was the best it has been in a while."

SFU started the fourth quarter with a big-time block from freshman forward Gemma Cutler followed by a deep three-pointer from Swant. With seven minutes left in the game, Jones hit a fade-away two-point shot to tie the game at 47 apiece. Not long after, Jessica Wisotzki made a three-point basket to give SFU the lead with five and a half minutes remaining.

The two teams battled hard for the final five minutes of regulation, Jessica Wisotzki and Jones took the game into their own hands and scored 12 of the team's 15 points in the fourth quarter. With a minute left in regulation, the two teams were tied at 56.
 

Western Washington's Walling drove to the net for a layup and one at the free-throw line, giving the Vikings a 59-56 advantage with 22 seconds left in the game. SFU in-bounded the ball to Jones who drained an incredible deep three-point shot to tie the game at 59, leaving 19.4 seconds left on the game clock. WWU drove down to Simon Fraser's end of the court and created two chances at the winning basket, but did not convert, settling for overtime with the game tied at 59.

The Vikings opened the scoring about a minute into the extra period. Then Jessica Wisotzki drove to the net and was fouled on her shot. At the free-throw line, she made the first shot but missed the second. Cutler got the offensive rebound for SFU and passed the ball to Swant who nailed a three-point shot to put SFU on top 63-61.

With three minutes left in overtime, SFU led the 63-62. The home side got a defensive stop and turned it into a Klassen basket. Western Washington came down the floor and missed on a three but got the offensive rebound. Later in the possession, Jones intercepted a pass and the turnover eventually led to a huge Jessica Wisotzki triple and a 68-62 lead with less than two minutes in the first OT period.

But the shorthanded Vikings were resilient. They hit a pair of foul shots with 87 seconds remaining. Then Emma Duff hit a three-point basket from the top of the arc to cut the lead to one (68-67). Swant came down the court for a layup and was fouled, she hit one of two shots at the free-throw line and gave SFU a two-point edge (69-67) with 27 seconds remaining in overtime.

WWU missed a tough layup from the left block on their final chance for the tie. SFU got the team rebound off the miss, and was able to keep the ball away from Western Washington. Jones dribbled the ball down the court as time expired.
 

SFU's Kendal Sands and Western Washington's Dani Iwami both had season- and university career-ending injuries earlier in the campaign but started tonight's game for one final time before being subbed out following a jump ball.

Jones made her presence felt early by scoring 15 of her team's first 19 points. With two and a half minutes left in the first quarter, Jones drained a contested three to give the team a 16-10 lead. SFU finished the first quarter shooting 7-for-18 and came away with a 19-12 lead.

Western Washington's defence stepped up in the second quarter holding SFU to only eight points. Jessica Wisotzki had a pair of free throws and led the team by scoring four of the eight. At halftime, the game was tied 27-27.

It took Simon Fraser almost five minutes to record their first basket of the third quarter, but Jessica Wisotzki was able to grab a rebound and get the ball past Western Washington's defenders for the bucket. WWU's defence was able to lock down SFU for the majority of the period, but in the final two minutes, the hosts were able to knock down eight points and bring themselves within three. Western Washington led the game 40-37 heading into the fourth.

It was a great way to finish the women's Senior Night in the West Gym for SFU. Langford was ecstatic on the sidelines and was very proud of how his whole team played, especially his graduating seniors.

"All three of them have gotten better from Day 1, they have had their priorities in place so it's been great to have them on the team," he said.
 

With the win, SFU finished the regular season with a record of 12-13 and 8-8 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. The team finished sixth in the league standings based on the Points Rating System, and avoided a play-in game on the opening day of the GNAC Championships.
 
SFU made the main eight-team bracket, and will face third-seeded Central Washington in a March 3 noon quarter-final at Seattle Pacific.

For the latest information on SFU Athletics, visit https://athletics.sfu.ca. You can also find us on social media at @SFU_Athletics.

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