WBB: Cougars clinch ticket to second-round after win over TRU.
March 4, 2022
Mount Royal and Thompson Rivers truly demonstrated the beauty of playoff basketball tonight in a 75-54 win for the Cougars.
The Wolfpack was able to hold the Cougars back with a strong defensive performance tonight through the first, second and fourth quarters of play tonight, with MRU taking the third with great strides.
TRU held Mount Royal to just a four point lead at the end of the first half, stopping the dominant attacking force of Jenika Martens and Abbey Wilkinson.
Martens spent the entirety of the game crashing the paint and grabbing rebounds for the Cougars, allowing her to end the night with a double-double on the stats sheet. She was able to battle it out and collect 12 rebounds while also putting up 15 points in favour of the Cougars.
But Wilkinson was the leader on the hardwood tonight. She was a commanding force, creating repeated scoring opportunities for MRU while herself getting 14.
"The biggest thing about that is just momentum for us. We get excited about it and with momentum like that we're tougher on defence too," said Wilkinson. "It's do or die again tomorrow, so bring all the energy we can to do our best and see where we can go."
Kyla Smith was just as much of a force, pressing the other direction down the court. Smith finished the night with 10 points and four rebounds. What can't be seen on the stats sheet was her constant communication to keep her team focused in the game when momentum swayed against them.
"[Smith]'s been our leader all year. Kyla's been awesome, team captain, she's someone I count on. I know what I'm going to get from her every night and she gave that tonight," said TRU head coach, Ken Olynyk. "I think it was great for us [to play MRU] because we've played them twice so at least there's familiarity, and if there's familiarity there's a chance because you're used to who they are."
Alongside Smith was Megan Rouault, who added two three's against the strong Cougars defence and finished the night with nine points, four steals and four rebounds.
The third quarter saw Mount Royal climb from a four point lead to an 18 point lead, shortly into the fourth becoming a 22 point lead.
"Some days you have to do enough good things to win and today we did enough good things to win," said MRU head coach, Robyn Fleckenstein. "Wilkie was fearless with her scoring and we love that about her. It was nice to see that she really valued the ball today."
The Cougars are back at home tomorrow when they take on the University of Winnipeg.
"For tomorrow we want to tighten up our communication and being on the same page being great teammates," said Fleckenstein. Winnipeg finished the regular season as the second seed in the east division, clinching them a first-round bye.
Tomorrow's second-round match-up comes with another seven p.m. tip-off for Mount Royal in Kenyon Court in Calgary, Alta.
Make sure to catch the game live on Canada West TV presented by Co-op.
The Wolfpack was able to hold the Cougars back with a strong defensive performance tonight through the first, second and fourth quarters of play tonight, with MRU taking the third with great strides.
TRU held Mount Royal to just a four point lead at the end of the first half, stopping the dominant attacking force of Jenika Martens and Abbey Wilkinson.
Martens spent the entirety of the game crashing the paint and grabbing rebounds for the Cougars, allowing her to end the night with a double-double on the stats sheet. She was able to battle it out and collect 12 rebounds while also putting up 15 points in favour of the Cougars.
But Wilkinson was the leader on the hardwood tonight. She was a commanding force, creating repeated scoring opportunities for MRU while herself getting 14.
"The biggest thing about that is just momentum for us. We get excited about it and with momentum like that we're tougher on defence too," said Wilkinson. "It's do or die again tomorrow, so bring all the energy we can to do our best and see where we can go."
Kyla Smith was just as much of a force, pressing the other direction down the court. Smith finished the night with 10 points and four rebounds. What can't be seen on the stats sheet was her constant communication to keep her team focused in the game when momentum swayed against them.
"[Smith]'s been our leader all year. Kyla's been awesome, team captain, she's someone I count on. I know what I'm going to get from her every night and she gave that tonight," said TRU head coach, Ken Olynyk. "I think it was great for us [to play MRU] because we've played them twice so at least there's familiarity, and if there's familiarity there's a chance because you're used to who they are."
Alongside Smith was Megan Rouault, who added two three's against the strong Cougars defence and finished the night with nine points, four steals and four rebounds.
The third quarter saw Mount Royal climb from a four point lead to an 18 point lead, shortly into the fourth becoming a 22 point lead.
"Some days you have to do enough good things to win and today we did enough good things to win," said MRU head coach, Robyn Fleckenstein. "Wilkie was fearless with her scoring and we love that about her. It was nice to see that she really valued the ball today."
The Cougars are back at home tomorrow when they take on the University of Winnipeg.
"For tomorrow we want to tighten up our communication and being on the same page being great teammates," said Fleckenstein. Winnipeg finished the regular season as the second seed in the east division, clinching them a first-round bye.
Tomorrow's second-round match-up comes with another seven p.m. tip-off for Mount Royal in Kenyon Court in Calgary, Alta.
Make sure to catch the game live on Canada West TV presented by Co-op.