Vikes victorious as Heat lose battle in the paint

Guard Emily Kanester (3rd year, Vernon, BC) led the Heat in scoring Friday versus the Vikes with 19 points.

Friday, November 15, 2013                               SCHEDULE & RESULTS| BOX SCORE

UBC Okanagan Gymnasium, Kelowna, BC

KELOWNA, B.C. - A Jessica Jazdarehee (Coquitlam, BC) lay-up rimmed out at the buzzer of the fourth quarter and that would tell the story of the matchup as the visiting Victoria Vikes took away an 89-75 win off the Heat Friday night at the UBC Okanagan gymnasium.

The biggest thorn in the Heat’s side however would be the backcourt play of Jessica Renfrew and Jenna Bugiardini, who combined for 37 points and used pin-point passing on the break for easy buckets. Renfrew netted a game-high tying 19 while Bugiardini chipped in 18.

The Heat were overwhelmed in the paint, losing the rebound margin 53-25. Victoria would convert on 49% of their attempts from the floor, most of which would come within five feet of the basket.

“I think we didn’t box out well and rebound well," said Heat head coach Heather Semeniuk. "We just need to get the defensive stops. We gave them way too many offensive boards.” Indeed, the Vikes would grab 14 offensive rebounds off the glass for the night.

The Heat did an excellent job containing the Victoria bigs for most of the first quarter, but forward Sarah Semeniuk would eventually eat up the Heat down in the post, gobbling up rebounds and converting her touches at the basket. Semeniuk would wind up with 14 points and seven rebounds.

“[Our girls] know that she is left handed,” Heather said of Sarah, “and they kept checking her from behind instead of cutting off the left side. Our post defense is not strong right now. We will have to look at that.”

Down the stretch of the game the Heat  applied a full-court pressure defense that succeed in forcing crucial turnovers to try and recover from a twenty-plus point deficit during the third quarter. UBC Okanagan forced 23 turnovers and only coughed the ball up 10 times for the game, it wasn't enough to erase the 20 point deficit however.

Third-year guard Emily Kanester (Vernon, BC) led the charge by the Heat tonight with 19 points and five rebounds in 30 minutes of floor-time. Kanester was 6-9 from the field including 3-4 from the three-point line.

The Heat's record slides to 1-4 while the Vikes improve to 2-3 for the season.

UBC Okanagan will look for revenge Saturday night in the second of back-to-back with the Vikes. Tip-off is at 5 p.m. at the UBC's Okanagan campus gymnasium.

Heat Notes: Regular starter at guard Angela White (4th-year, North Vancouver, BC) only saw five minutes of floor time as she continues to deal with a sprained ankle suffered last weekend at Mount Royal. It is not known if she will play tomorrow in the rematch, or how many minutes can be expected.