Go West Girls!

The basketball women of the U of R are in Burnaby this weekend for the Canada West Final Four.

Now a person could easily see this as a mere formality as all four teams will compete again in a weeks time for a National title. But for the Cougars there is plenty of motivation in BC.

First up, they play their arch rivals from the U of S tonight in the semi-final. Yeah, that's right, the same team that hammered the Lady Cougs by 28 on their home court in January. "We watched film of that game and it pissed us off" were the words from Gabby Gheyssen. The same girl who dubbed every battle with the Huskies a "blood bath" back in January. Bekki Schmidt offered that the team is going to BC to win a title, but that "revenge" is certainly on the cats mind.

In retrospect, maybe the 'Drubbing at the Den' was the best thing to happen to the U of R women. Assistant Coach Christin Dickenson spoke quietly yesterday of just that fact. If there was already a fire burning in this rivalry, that beat down maybe poured a bit of gas on it.

The gals looked loose at practice yesterday at Campbell. Why they are kicked out of their home gym a week before the big competition here in years is still a mystery to me. The cats look hungry and ready to feast.

Check in here tomorrow where I hope to have some comments from Head Coach Dave Taylor about tonight's game with the Huskies. Might be a bit later, just because of the time change.