V-Reds hosting women's hoops regional
The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds women's basketball team isn't done playing at the Pit after all.
The V-Reds will host the four-team Eastern Regional on Friday and Saturday at the UNB main gym.
The Canadian Interuniversity Sport women's hoops features a new-look format this year. A trio of regional tournaments will decide three of the last four tickets for the national Final 8, to be hosted by the University of Windsor from March 18-20.
A wildcard entry will be announced March 13 to fill the final spot.
Twelve teams are still in contention to join conference champions Windsor (OUA), Saskatchewan (Canada West), Laval (Quebec) and Cape Breton (AUS) at the Final 8.
The V-Reds, Regina Cougars and Carleton Ravens, all of whom were defeated in their respective conference finals, will host the Regionals on Friday (semifinals) and Saturday (finals).
UNB, 65-60 losers to Cape Breton in the AUS final, will play Western Ontario (OUA fifth-place finisher) at 6 p.m. Friday, then the University of Toronto (OUA bronze medallist) will play Fraser Valley (Canada West fourth-place finisher) at 8 p.m.
The winners advance to Saturday's 4 p.m. Eastern Regional final.
Travelling to Regina for the Western tournament will be UQAM (Quebec finalist), Wilfrid Laurier (OUA fourth-place finisher) and Victoria, which received the at-large berth following a vote by a committee of CIS coaches.
Joining Carleton in the nation's capital for the Central tourney will be Alberta (Canada West bronze), Winnipeg (Canada West 5), as well as St. Francis Xavier (AUS bronze).
SSN Canada will have live webcasts of all games from the three events. The webcasts are available through www.ssncanada.ca.
Leah Corby is UNB's Valley Graphics female athlete of the week after scoring 41 points in two games at the AUS championship tourney. She tossed in 23 in the semifinal win over St. FX and 18 in the loss to CBU.
The second team AUS all-star was also named one of the tournament all-stars.
"Leah had an awesome weekend," UNB head coach Jeff Speedy said in a release. "She played her best ball of the year and really helped give us a chance to win the AUS title we craved."
CIS men's hoops
The top-seeded University of British Columbia Thunderbirds head to Halifax later this week looking for their first CIS men's basketball title in almost 40 years.
The No. 2 Carleton Ravens, whose starters include Elliot Thompson of Fredericton, return to the site of their greatest successes and the No. 3 Saskatchewan Huskies get set to play the role of defending national champions for the first time in school history.
The Final 8 tournament, which returns to the Halifax Metro Centre this season following a three-year stint in Ottawa, gets under way Friday with the quarter-final round and culminates on Sunday at 5 p.m. with the gold medal final.
Five games will be televised on TSN2 including live broadcasts of the last two opening-round matchups on Friday. Saturday's semifinals and Sunday's championship contest will air on tape delay. SSN Canada will have live webcasts of the two non-televised quarter-finals and of the bronze medal affair.
In addition to UBC, Carleton and reigning champion Saskatchewan, this year's W.P. McGee Trophy contenders include the No. 4 Lakehead Thunderwolves (OUA champions), No. 5 Trinity Western Spartans (CWUAA bronze medallists), No. 6 Dalhousie Tigers (AUS champions), No. 7 Concordia Stingers (RSEQ champions), and No. 8 Acadia Axemen (AUS finalists).
The Huskies, who claimed their first McGee Trophy last March thanks to a 91-81 gold medal win over UBC, open their title defence against Dal at 6 p.m. Friday in the third quarter-final matchup.
Other first-round clashes will see UBC face Acadia in the tourney opener at 1 p.m., Lakehead battle Trinity Western at 3:15 p.m., and Carleton take on Concordia in the nightcap at 8:15 p.m.
The Thunderbirds earned the No. 1 seed for the event thanks to an entertaining 107-100 win over Saskatchewan in the Canada West final on Saturday night, combined with a surprising 77-62 Lakehead victory over Carleton in the OUA championship game, which marked the Ravens' first loss in 32 confrontations against CIS opponents this season.