The University of Winnipeg men’s and women’s basketball teams travelled to Kamloops, B.C. last weekend (Jan. 7-8) to take on Thompson Rivers University (TRU).

On Friday night, the Wesmen women basketball team defeated TRU’s Wolfpack 66-61. Fourth-year captain Amy Ogidan had an impressive game with 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Second year forward Alyssa Grant was also a dominant force Friday night, leading the way with 16 points. 

On Saturday night, the Wesmen were missing co-captain and fifth-year guard, Catie Gooch. Despite Gooch being out, the Wesmen were able to pull off the W, outscoring the Wolfpack 65-58 and improving their overall record to 10-2. 

Ogidan was proud of the team’s performance on Saturday night.

“The game on Saturday was different not having Catie,” she said. “But once again we stayed together as a team and managed to sweep a tough opponent.”

On the men’s side, the Wesmen played well on Friday night. They had the lead for much of the first half of the game, but were unable to hold onto it in the third quarter. The game was close until the final buzzer, when the Wolfpack pulled off the win by one point.

On Saturday night, the Wesmen started out slow and had to chip away at a halftime 14-point deficit. Forward Kelvin Smith said the team fought back hard to send the game into overtime, in which the Wesmen dominated. 

“We kept playing and it stayed close for the rest of the way,” Smith said. “We went into overtime and we pulled out the win at the end.”
Wesmen volleyball squads struggle.

Though the volleyball teams did not have regular season games last weekend, both were away for exhibition matches. The men were in Saskatchewan and the women were in Brandon.

Despite straight losses for both teams, men’s captain Dan Lother felt good about the weekend.

“The tournament was a great way to get ready for the second half stretch,” he noted. 

On the women’s side, head coach Diane Scott had similar things to say.

“It was a great opportunity for us to have a kick-start after such a long lay-off,” she said.

Published in Volume 65, Number 15 of The Uniter (January 13, 2011)