Manitoba finished as 11th seed in conference while Alberta was the seventh seed; playoff start time is 6 p.m. CT; Bisons earn first post-season appearance since 2008-09
At the completion of the 2017-18 Canada West conference women’s basketball regular season, the Manitoba Bisons finished as the 11th seed in the conference with a 9-11 record and now will play at the seventh seed Alberta Pandas (11-9) in the Canada West Play-In playoff game played on Saturday, February 10.
The Play-In playoff game has a start time of 6 p.m. CT at U of Alberta in Edmonton.
During this season, Manitoba and Alberta did not meet in the conference regular season. The last time both teams played against each other was the 2016-17 season and Alberta swept the weekend regular season series as the Herd lost 72-68 (Nov. 25/16) and lost 77-49 (Nov. 26/16).
This is the first time the Bisons have made the post-season since the 2008-09 season and first time Bison women’s basketball head coach Michele Sung, in her fourth season, has guided the squad into the playoffs. In the 2009 playoffs, Manitoba lost the Canada West Division Semi-Final best-of-three series in three games on the road against Winnipeg.
The last time the Herd won a playoff series was in the 2006-07 season when Manitoba defeated Regina in two games during the 2007 CW Division best-of-three playoff series.
This season, the Herd went 5-9 on the road in the CW regular season and doubled their regular season win total (4) from last season.
Manitoba enters the playoffs after a split at the Fraser Valley Cascades (OTW 79-74 on Feb. 2; L 80-56 on Feb. 3) to end the CW regular season.
This is the first playoff meeting between the two teams since the Herd entered the Canada West conference in the 2000-01 season.
In this conference women’s basketball season, the Bisons were ninth in scoring offence at 69.6 points per game and 12th in scoring defense at 71.8 points per game allowed. In 3-point percentage, Manitoba was eighth at 29.9% and 13th in field goal percentage at 36.8%. In free throw percentage, the Herd ended up 14th at 63.6. In Canada West rebounds, the Bisons were fifth at 42.6 per game, tied for 11th in steals per game 8.3, fourth in assists per game at 14.3 and tied for first with 4.0 blocks per game.
Individually, Taylor Randall finished tied 11th in conference scoring with 16.8 points per game, 13th with 30.3 minutes per game, 11th in foul shooting at 81.9%, seventh with 2.4 steals per game and T-3rd with 3.6 assists per game. Nicole Konieczny was second in team scoring and 26th in conference scoring with 12.2 points per game, 11th in CW minutes with 31.8, T-18th with 1.6 steals per game and 15th in rebounds per game at 7.7. Lana Mackic was eighth in field goal percentage at 48.2% and tied for seventh with 0.8 blocks per game. Emma Thompson finished tenth in 3-point Canada West shooting percentage with 36.2% and 19th in CW minutes played at 29.7 per game. Claire Harvey was 16th in rebounds per game at 7.3 plus tied for first in blocks per game at 1.9.
Bison women’s basketball - 2018 Canada West Play-In road playoff game
Date
Saturday, February 10
Manitoba at Alberta 6 p.m. Central
Source: http://gobisons.ca/news/2018/2/6/general-bison-womens-basketball-team-play-at-alberta-in-canada-west-play-in-playoff-game-on-sat-feb-10.aspx