March 17, 2012

CIS: Defending champ Lancers off to impressive start

CALGARY (CIS) – The fourth-seeded and defending national champion Windsor Lancers turned a dominating effort on the glass and hot outside shooting into an easy first-round victory over the No. 5 Acadia Axewomen, Saturday evening, prevailing 94-46 in the third quarter-final of the CIS women’s basketball championship at the University of Calgary’s Jack Simpson Gymnasium.

Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wbkb/index

The Lancers move on to Sunday’s second semifinal at 7 p.m. Mountain, where they will face either No. 1 Regina or No. 8 Calgary. The game will be broadcast live on Shaw TV, NBA TV Canada and ssncanada.ca.

It will mark the fourth straight CIS semifinal appearance for Windsor, which captured the first Bronze Baby Trophy in program history a year ago, after claiming the silver medal in 2010 and finishing fourth in 2009.

Today’s 48-point victory is the second most lopsided decision in the 41 years of the CIS tournament, trailing only an 81-31 quarter-final win by Victoria over Toronto in 1982. It comes two weeks after the Lancers were humiliated 89-40 by Ottawa in the OUA final.

For its part, Acadia is making its first-ever appearance at the Nationals after claiming the first AUS banner in school history last weekend. The Axewomen will face either Regina or Calgary on the consolation side of the draw Sunday at 2 p.m. MT.

The Lancers took no prisoners in using a variety of lopsided runs to enhance their lead. They were led by OUA MVP and all-Canadian Jessica Clemençon from France, who poured in 18 points to go along with eight rebounds, while Bojana Kovacevic chipped in a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Kovacevic, who hails from Windsor, was named game MVP for the winners.

The newly-minted CIS defensive MVP, Miah-Marie Langlois, also a Windsor native, was excellent in all categories as well, scoring six points to go along with six rebounds, 10 assists and four steals.

The Axewomen were led by Stefanie Chapman of St. Margaret’s Bay, N.S., and Jasmine Parent of Aylesford, N.S., who each got to 10 points, with Parent grabbing five rebounds to aid the cause. Chapman earned Acadia game-MVP honours.

Windsor used its height to perfection, dominating Acadia on the glass by a 55-31 in a terrific team rebounding performance. Aside from Kovacevic’s 12 boards, four other Lancers had six or more rebounds.

Head coach Chantal Vallée commented on the size differential and how it affected the game.

“Our size definitely helped us tonight – it always helps in basketball“, said Vallée. “I think our experience at this event is the biggest thing though, we’ve been here before and we know what to expect. The experience of our veterans – Miah, Jessica, Bojana… - really helps down the stretch”.

Acadia couldn’t keep their six-foot-2 post threat Abbey Duinker in the game, as the second-team all-Canadian struggled with fouls all night, collecting four through the first 25 minutes of play.

The three-point line was a large factor in the game as well, where Windsor nailed nine long-range jumpers for a 39% clip, while Acadia couldn’t find any success on 13 attempts. Kovacevic was responsible for four of the Lancers trifectas.

Windsor jumped all over Acadia right off the bat, stretching an 8-0 run into a 20-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Windsor used their suffocating half-court defence to hold Acadia without a field goal for the entirety of the opening frame.

Acadia finally found two points from the floor at the 9:04 mark of the second courtesy of a Stefanie Chapman jump shot, and was immediately answered by Kovacevic’s second three point shot of the night. Windsor parlayed that Kovacevic shot into a 14-0 run to balloon their lead to 36-10.

The Axewomen, however, regained composure to string together a 9-2 run of their own, sparked by six more points from Chapman to get the difference to 42-25 heading into halftime.

The second half began much the first half did, with the Lancers exploding for 10 points in the first minute and 22 seconds of the third, eventually stretching their lead to 56-26 before Acadia head coach Ben Greenlaw called timeout.

However it only got worse from there for Acadia, as the Lancers used another run to start (14-2) and finish (9-2) the fourth quarter to solidify the big 94-46 victory.

The UBC Thunderbirds and Ottawa Gee-Gees will face off in the first Final 8 semifinal at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

STAT LEADERS

Boxscore: Windsor-Acadia

Scoring by quarter:

WSR 22-20-28-24: 94

ACA 7-18-10-11: 46

Windsor

Points: Jessica Clemençon (18), Bojana Kovacevic (16), Korissa Williams (12), Emily Abbott (12)

Rebounds: Bojana Kovacevic (12), Jessica Clemençon (7)

Assists: Miah-Marie Langlois (10)

Player of the game: Bojana Kovacevic

Acadia