KAMLOOPS - The Thompson Rivers WolfPack women's basketball team bowed out of the Canada West playoffs Friday night after they were handed a 75-54 loss by the Mount Royal Cougars in Calgary.
The game was decided during a dominant third frame for the host Cougars. Mount Royal outscored TRU 22-8 in the quarter, including going on a 17-1 run, and turned what was a close game at the half into a blowout the remainder of the way.
The Cougars knocked down nine three pointers in the game while also out-rebounding the WolfPack by a tally of 60-43.
With the loss the season comes to an end for an extremely young WolfPack squad that battled hard throughout the year. The Cougars meanwhile, advance to Round 2 of the Canada West playoffs where they will face the Winnipeg Wesmen.
Kyla Smith had a team-high 10 points for the 'Pack with
Megan Rouault adding nine,
Elana Sireni seven and
Jessica Orr,
Danijela Kovacevic and
Nya Derkach all with six.
Jenika Martens was a force in the paint for the Cougars to finish with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Abbey Wilkinson knocked down four three-pointers en route to scoring 14 points and Tanis Metcalfe added 10.
The WolfPack handled the nerves of playoff basketball the better of the two teams in the early going. TRU jumped out to a 15-7 lead early thanks in large part to five points each from Sireni and Orr. As a team TRU went 8-16 from the floor in the quarter to hold a 19-13 lead after the opening 10 minutes.
The Cougars battled back in the early portions of the second quarter and drew even at 23-23 with five minutes left to go in the frame. Mount Royal continued their momentum to hold a slim 33-29 lead at the halftime break.
Coming out of the halftime break it was all Cougars, as the hosts would go on that 17-1 run to put the game out of reach. Both Abbey Wilkinson and Maddison Hooper knocked down a pair of three-pointers during that stretch.
From there the Cougars were able to run out the clock as the WolfPack saw their season come to an end in Round 1 of the Canada West playoffs in Calgary.
