Miguel AranasThey say that defence wins championships, and it certainly looked like the Pandas took that to heart this past weekend.
The Pandas basketball team dominated the MacEwan Griffins in the first ever installment of the Battle of Edmonton last weekend. Alberta conceded just 57 and 46 points respectively Friday and Saturday against a Griffins team that averaged a respectable 74 points per game during the course of the regular season.
Pandas’ head coach Scott Edwards said his team’s defence really rose to the occasion over the weekend.
“We’re a program that prides itself on playing tough defence and that was one of the things we wanted to do over the weekend,” Edwards said. “We’ve got some things we need to improve upon before Friday, but overall I was happy with how we played.”
Edwards also cited his team’s preparation as a key to their success.
“I think we did a good job in our scouting, the girls really prepared well for MacEwan’s offensive tendencies,” Edwards said. “I give a lot of credit to our athletes for really buying into our game plan in terms of their compete level.”
The Pandas were also able to feed off of the playoff atmosphere created by their home fans at the Saville Centre this weekend.
“We had a really nice crowd, and some great support from our fellow student athletes – I think we really fed off the crowd’s energy during the game,” Edwards said.
“We need to play at a certain level if we want to win the conference championship, and I think we’re on that path now for sure.”
The Pandas now travel to Vancouver to take on the UBC Thunderbirds this weekend in the Canada West Final Four. The Pandas hosted the Thunderbirds twice earlier this season, coming out with a 71-63 win and a 73-66 loss.
Edwards said he believes offensive execution is the key to defeating the Thunderbirds on their home turf.
“We need to play at a certain level if we want to win the conference championship and I think we’re on that path now for sure,” he said. “It’s going to come down to how we execute offensively because they’re a really good defensive team.
“I think we’ll defend them fine, it’s just a matter of us being able to manufacture enough offence.”
The Pandas were eliminated in the Canada West Final Four semifinals by the Fraser Valley Cascades last year, and will look to make up for it this weekend.
“We’re a motivated group from last year’s loss,” Edwards said. “The team has worked hard to get to this point in the season, and they deserve their shot at the championship, but there’s still a formidable opponent in front of us.”
Unlike the Pandas, the Bears were unable to advance past the quarterfinals, losing in consecutive games to Victoria by scored of 77-62 on Thursday night, and 81-67 on Friday.
