Winnipeg to face Ryerson in U Sports women's basketball championship final
The Canadian Press | Posted: April 2, 2022 11:04 PM | Last Updated: April 3, 2022
Queen's set to battle Brock in bronze-medal game on Sunday
Faith Hezekiah scored a game-high 26 points Saturday to lift the Winnipeg Wesmen past the Queen's Gaels and into the U Sports women's basketball championship game.
Keylyn Filewich added 22 points, and Kyanna Giles and Robyn Boulanger both had 13 to give Winnipeg a narrow 80-78 victory in the semifinal.
Hezekiah chipped in with 10 rebounds for the Wesmen, which went 14-2 in the regular season.
Laura Donovan scored 20 points, and Emma Ritcey added 19 for the hosts Queen's. Sophie de Goede had a game-high 12 rebounds.
Queen's led 78-77 with 1:37 to play after Donovan made back-to-back free throws. Two free throws by Hezekiah with 1:20 left on the clock sealed the win for the Wesmen.
"I'm a veteran on this team and in those situations, we have to rise up and be there for our teammates," said Hezekiah. "I definitely take pride in that, and I knew that we were going to have to take some tough shots and that's what happened."
Winnipeg will face the undefeated Ryerson Rams in Sunday's title match. The Rams earned a 64-56 overtime victory over the Brock Badgers earlier Saturday.
Bin-Edward leads Rams past Badgers
Jama Bin-Edward, a native of Waterloo, Ont., scored a game-high 17 points and added eight assists and seven rebounds in Ryerson's victory.
Madalyn Weinert of St. Catharines, Ont., and Ottawa's Victoria Lawrence led the way for Brock, finishing the game with 14 points each.
Lawrence was instrumental for Brock, scoring seven points in the fourth quarter to help the Badgers come back from being down five after three quarters.
A three-pointer from Lawrence gave Brock a 54-52 lead with 1:28 left to play, but Ryerson's Stefanija Mrvaljevic, a Mississauga, Ont., native, hit a shot with 1:07 left to play in the fourth to send the game to overtime after Lawrence missed a couple go-ahead basket opportunities.
In the extra period, Bin-Edward took over, scoring seven points, including five straight to start overtime.
The Rams will look to finish off their run of the table when they compete for the national championship on Sunday.