by Justin Orlewicz (Sports Editor)
Email: cascade.sports [at] ufv [dot] ca
The UFV Cascades women’s basketball team hosted the Manitoba Bisons last weekend for a pair of games at the EAC. With both the women’s basketball team and the men’s basketball team in action, the Cascades thought this would be the perfect weekend for them to unveil their new mascot for the coming season. The new mascot is a grey and white sasquatch that goes by the name of Sasq’ets. I know that it isn’t the most appealing name for our new mascot, but the actual costume that she wears is actually quite endearing. It’s not a mean looking mascot, but at the same time, she has a respectable level of toughness behind her. If we have learned anything from our southern neighbors universities, it’s that it isn’t hard to make a stupid school mascot that will be ridiculed on most sports shows and highlight reels. Sasq’ets doesn’t have any prime time tricks for the half time show yet, but at least the costume is sharp. I look forward to seeing what kind of trouble Sasq’ets will get into in these upcoming half time shows.
Despite the unveiling of the new mascot, there was also some basketball that needed to be played. The University of the Fraser Valley women’s basketball team defeated the University of Manitoba Bisons, 72-44, to sweep the opening weekend regular season Canada West series and improve to 2-0 on the season. The Cascades led from the opening whistle and built a double-digit lead by running off the first 14 points of the game. The Cascades defense held Manitoba to nine points in the first quarter and did not let the Bisons score more than 16 points in any quarter of the game. “Our defense was very strong tonight,” noted UFV Cascades Head Coach Al Tuchscherer.
The Cascades put pressure on Manitoba the entire night, and as the game went on, UFV seemed to get stronger, finishing with two 10 point runs in the second half and outscoring the Bisons, 22-9 in the fourth quarter. “There was no complacency tonight. We came out strong and built on our opening night victory,” argued Tuchscherer. The Bisons started the second half strong, challenging UFV, but the Cascades defense held strong, and while they were outscored by four points in the third quarter, they had built a 19-point lead before the Bisons lone run of the game. “We battled hard tonight, and our defence was able to make the needed adjustments during their run,” observed Tuchscherer.
Tessa Klassen, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, led the Cascades with 15 points and four assists. Alyssa Gaukel, from Chilliwack, added 11 points and Sarah Wierks, from Chilliwack, had ten points in the victory over Manitoba. Ten other Cascades players scored at least two points in the game. Sarah Wierks also pulled down a total of 10 rebounds as UFV registered 34 total boards for the game. The girls’ next home game is against Victoria on November 12 at the EAC. Game time is at 6:00 p.m.
