Courtesy Canadian Interuniversity Sport
2011 CIS women’s basketball championship
Windsor seeded No. 1, Carleton earns wildcard
March 13, 2011
OTTAWA (CIS) – The University of Windsor Lancers have been established tournament favourites for the 40th CIS women’s basketball Final 8, which they are set to host for the first time next weekend.
Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wbkb
The final leg of the expanded CIS championship gets underway Friday at the St. Denis Centre with the quarter-final round and culminates next Sunday with the gold medal final, live on TSN at 4:30 p.m.
SSN Canada will have live webcasts of all games except the title match, while TVCogeco will televise five contests locally including the first and third quarter-finals, both semis and the bronze medal match.
The Final 8 seeding was announced on Sunday with the Lancers earning No. 1 status following a 20-2 regular season and a 3-0 playoff run capped off by their third straight OUA title.
Also competing for the Bronze Baby Trophy later this week will be the No. 2 Saskatchewan Huskies (Canada West champions), No. 3 Carleton Ravens (at-large berth), No. 4 Cape Breton Capers (AUS champions), No. 5 Toronto Varsity Blues (East Regional winners), No. 6 St. Francis Xavier X-Women (Central Regional winners), No. 7 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (West Regional winners), and No. 8 Laval Rouge et Or (RSEQ champions).
Toronto, StFX and Laurier punched their tickets by winning the new Eastern, Central and Western regional tournaments, respectively.
Carleton received the at-large berth following a vote by a committee of CIS coaches. The Ravens were ranked nationally all season and were No. 4 in the final coaches’ poll on March 1. They lost to StFX in the final of the Central Regional tourney.
Friday’s quarter-final matchups will see Carleton face StFX at 1 p.m., Saskatchewan battle Laurier at 3 p.m., Windsor take on Laval at 6 p.m., and Cape Breton square off with Toronto at 8 p.m.
New national champions will be crowned next Sunday as the Simon Fraser Clan, winners of the last two Bronze Baby Trophies and five of the last nine banners, played their final CIS season in 2009-10 and now compete in the NCAA.
The tourney host Lancers hope to make CIS women’s basketball history by becoming the first team to triumph on home court. They also hope to put an end to the 19-year stranglehold on the Bronze Baby Trophy by teams currently competing in Canada West (including former Great Plains conference schools).
The reigning three-time OUA champs came oh-so-close last spring in Hamilton when they reached their first-ever national final before dropping a 77-56 decision to Simon Fraser.
The last team from outside Western Canada to hoist the Bronze Baby was Laurentian, which captured back-to-back banners in 1990 and 1991.
NOTE: A complete championship preview will follow on Tuesday.
SEEDING
1. Windsor Lancers (OUA champions: 20-2 regular season / 3-0 playoffs)
2. Saskatchewan Huskies (CWUAA champions: 22-2 regular season / 4-0 playoffs)
3. Carleton Ravens (At-large berth: 18-4 regular season / 3-2 playoffs)
4. Cape Breton Capers (AUS champions: 16-4 regular season / 2-0 playoffs)
5. Toronto Varsity Blues (East Regional winner: 18-4 regular season / 4-1 playoffs)
6. St. Francis Xavier X-Women (Central Regional winner: 14-6 regular season / 4-1 playoffs)
7. Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (West Regional winner: 15-7 regular season / 4-1 playoffs)
8. Laval Rouge et Or (RSEQ champions: 5-11 regular season / 2-0 playoffs)
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Thursday, March 17
9:00 – 17:00 Team practices
18:30 – 21:00 All-Canadian Awards Banquet (St. Clair Centre for the Arts)
Friday, March 18
13:00 Quarter-final #1: No. 6 StFX vs. No. 3 Carleton (SSN Canada webcast)
15:00 Quarter-final #2: No. 7 Laurier vs. No. 2 Saskatchewan (SSN Canada webcast)
18:00 Quarter-final #3: No. 8 Laval vs. No. 1 Windsor (SSN Canada webcast)
20:00 Quarter-final #4: No. 5 Toronto vs. No. 4 Cape Breton (SSN Canada webcast)
Saturday, March 19
13:00 Consolation #1: Loser QF #1 vs. Loser QF #2 (SSN Canada webcast)
15:00 Consolation #2: Loser QF #3 vs. Loser QF #4 (SSN Canada webcast)
18:00 Semifinal #1: Winner QF #1 vs. Winner QF #2 (SSN Canada webcast)
20:00 Semifinal #2: Winner QF #3 vs. Winner QF #4 (SSN Canada webcast)
Sunday, March 20
11:00 5th place game (SSN Canada webcast)
13:00 Bronze medal game (SSN Canada webcast)
16:30 Championship final (Live on TSN)
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-one universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.
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