Box Score
WINDSOR, Ont. -- Sophomore Mariam Sylla and senior Helene Bibeau sparked a monster rally but No.4-seeded McGill fell short as the fifth-seeded Fraser Valley Cascades held on for a 74-60 opening day quarter-final victory at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS Final 8 women's basketball championships in the St. Denis Centre, Friday.

Trailing 47-29 with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Martlets went on an impressive 28-12 run, reducing an18-point deficit to 59-57 with six minutes remaining in the contest, before running out of steam.

UFV (1-0) advances to a semifinal against top-seeded Windsor (1-0) on Saturday at 5 p.m. live on Sportsnet 360 and www.cis-sic.tv..

Sylla, the RSEQ conference MVP, recorded a team-best 17 points and 11 rebounds for a "double-double" in a game-high 36 minutes of court-time. Bibeau scored 16 with seven rebounds in a losing cause for the Martlets who are appearing in their ninth Bronze Baby tournament, including each of the last three years. McGill will take on Laurier in the second consolation semifinal on Saturday at 12 noon on www.cis-sic.tv.
 
"They just outplayed us, plain and simple. Especially early on. I was a bit concerned about their size and physical play. They did a good job a creating open looks," said McGill head coach Ryan Thorne. "I'm proud of our effort to come all the way back to within two points in the fourth. Unfortunately, mounting that comeback took a lot out of us and we just ran out of energy a little. Meanwhile, they had had a chance to rest some players, so they were fresher at the end."

Fraser Valley shot 42.4% from the floor, 42.9 from three-point land and went 15-for-28 from the foul-line. The Martlets shot a season-low 26.9%, making just 21 of 78 attempts. They connected on 7 of 28 from the arc and made 11 of 14 from the charity stripe.

Aieisha Luyken led UFV with 20 points, shooting 5-of-13 from the floor and adding six rebounds for the Cascades, who are making their second-straight nationals appearance. UFV finished tied for seventh place in 2013, and are the Canada West finalists at this year's Final 8.
 
"It's exciting. You know we've been to two Regionals and gone 0-1 and 0-1 and last year was 0-2 at Nationals which was disappointing for everybody," said UFV head coach Al Tuchscherer. "We wanted to come in this year with a little bit different approach to how we prepared and how we carried ourselves and I thought tonight was a good game and it was pretty business-like for us. We've got our work cut out for us tomorrow for sure.
 
"I thought our ball movement was fantastic in the first half and defensively we forced a lot of tough shots. We started to kind of glaze over a little bit in that third quarter and they came at us super hard. All our time-outs, all our quarter time-outs, were just talking to the girls about relaxing and just having confidence in what we do and just finding something to make it happen. They did, so I'm really proud of them. McGill pulled within two at one point and we got some big baskets down the stretch, and that's a big veteran effort for us."
 
The Cascades outscored McGill 21-12 and 21-17 over the first two quarters. McGill responded with an 18-11 advantage in the third but Fraser Valley recovered with a 21-13 edge in the final stanza.

UFV opened an early advantage, going up 8-0 through the opening three minutes of the contest. A three-pointer from Dianna Ros finally got the Martlets on the board, but Nataliia Gavryliuk responded with a jumper of her own from beyond the arc, giving Fraser Valley its first double-digit lead midway through the first quarter.

UFV maintained that spread until the final minute when Bibeau converted a corner three, cutting the lead down to eight heading into the second quarter.
 
Tessa Hart opened the second with a three-pointer but Sylla, a CIS all-Canadian, responded with some strong physical play in the post, picking up a lay-in off the glass while taking some punishment. After converting her free-throw, the native of Guinea stuffed a Cascades attempt. Ros, who finished with 13 points, drained another three soon after, cutting the deficit down to eight.
 
However, the Cascades kept pace with the Martlets to maintain a healthy margin throughout the half. Luyken dropped her second trey in less than two minutes following a McGill turnover.
 
Sylla grabbed her own rebound coming out of a timeout and notched two points for the RSEQ champs but Gavryliuk hit two more long-range jumpers as UFV spread its advantage to 18. However, McGill would cut slightly into Fraser Valley's lead, going into the half down by 13.
 
Gavryliuk, a native of Kiev, in the beseiged Ukraine, led both teams with 11 points at half-time, while Sylla had a team-high nine for the Martlets. UFV shot 48.6% in the first half compared to 35.7% from McGill.
 
Kayli Sartori opened the second-half with another corner three for the Cascades. After a rejection from Sarah Wierks on Sylla, Gavryliuk continued to remain potent with her three-point shooting, extending her team's lead. Bibeau answered with her own three at the other end of the court and Ros nailed a mid-range jumper as the Martlets attempted to keep the deficit manageable.
 
Sensing a bit of a momentum shift, Tuchscherer called timeout to talk things over. Coming out of the break, McGill nailed eight-straight points bringing UFV's lead down to single-digits heading into the final period.
 
Courtney Bartel snapped McGill's run at the beginning of the fourth, but Carolann Cloutier responded with a try that kept the Martlet tide alive. Bartel connected on an off-balance jumper, while Ros picked up her own rebound off a missed shot and stepped back from the arc to sink a basket. Soon after, Bibeau was fouled on her three-point attempt and calmly made all of her three shots from the line to bring the Martlets within four at the 6:48 mark.
 
After a Cascades timeout, Sylla tallied a put-back off her teammate's miss but UFV answered with three straight points of their own to give themselves a bit more breathing room. A critical three by Luyken pushed the lead back up to nine, and a Martlets turnover on their next possession resulted in two more points for Fraser Valley.
 
The Martlet offence slowed through the last minutes of the second half, as they failed to make a basket for over four minutes after scoring 10 points in less than four minutes to open the final quarter.
 
UFV capitalized, re-establishing their double-digit spread and putting the contest out of reach to book a date with the three-time defending champion Lancers in Saturday's second semi-final match.
 
 

STAT LEADERS

 
Boxscore: STATS
 
UFV 21-21-11-21: 74
McG 12-17-18-13 : 60
 

Fraser Valley

Points: Aieisha Luyken (20), Nataliia Gavryliuk (17), Kaylie Sartori (14)
Rebounds: Sarah Wierks (11), Kaylie Sartori (7)
Assists: Aieisha Luyken (6)
 
Player of the game: Aieisha Luyken
 
McGill
Points: Mariam Sylla (17), Hélène Bibeau (16), Dianna Ros (13)
Rebounds: Mariam Sylla (11), Hélène Bibeau (7)
Assists: Dianna Ros (6)
 
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times EASTERN TIME)
 

Friday, March 14

13:00 Quarter-final 1: Saint Mary's 71, Alberta 51
15:00 Quarter-final 2: Saskatchewan 61, Queen's 52
18:00 Quarter-final 3: Windsor 81, Wilfrid Laurier 53
20:00 Quarter-final 4: Fraser Valley 74, McGill 60
 

Saturday, March 15

10:00 Consolation 1: No. 7 Alberta vs. No. 6 Queen's (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 
12:00 Consolation 2: No. 8 Wilfrid Laurier vs. No. 4 McGill (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 
15:00 Semifinal 1: No. 2 Saint Mary's vs. No. 3 Saskatchewan (Sportsnet 360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv *) 
17:00 Semifinal 2: No. 1 Windsor vs. No. 5 Fraser Valley (Sportsnet 360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv *) 
 

Sunday, March 16

15:00 5^th Place (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 
17:00 Bronze (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 
20:00 Final (Sportsnet 360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv *) 
 
* The webcast of all 3 televised games (semifinals & final) will be on pay-per-view basis.
 

 
For more information:

Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012
 
Michel Bélanger        
Manager, Communications & Media Relations
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Off: 613-562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: 613-447-6334
belanger@universitysport.ca
 
Elisa Mitton
Sports Information
University of Windsor
Off: (519) 253-3000 ext. 2447
Cell: (519) 984-6302
emitton@uwindsor.ca