Wesmen come up one win short

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This article was published 03/04/2022 (1450 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A season that began with the promise of a national championship ended one step shy of the ultimate goal for the Winnipeg Wesmen women’s basketball team Sunday night.

Facing the unbeaten and top-ranked Ryerson Rams in the U Sports final in Kingston, Ont., the No. 3 Wesmen were defeated 70-48 after succumbing to a barrage of three-point baskets and a suffocating defensive effort on national player of the year Keylyn Filewich and all-star forward Faith Hezekiah.

“You would post up and you feel like you’re open and they have somebody coming from underneath swiping at it,” explained Hezekiah. “They did a really good job of packing the paint, throwing doubles at us.”

Tournament MVP Jama Bin-Edward scored 12 points, including a pair of three-pointers for the Rams, but Ryerson player of the game Rachel Farwell was deadly on this night, hitting a trio of three-pointers to go with 17 points and five rebounds.

The Rams led 20-10 after the first quarter and the Wesmen appeared to be crawling back into the game at halftime, whittling the lead to eight points.

However, Ryerson’s advantage grew to 56-40 after three quarters and Winnipeggers were unable to stage a rally in the final 10 minutes.

“They’re just a really good team,” added Hezekiah, whose post-game departure was delayed due to a random U Sports drug test. “They’re solid on defence and offence. They play very physical and we were not ready to match their physicality, I guess. I started slow — I was a step behind the ball and we let them get out to an early lead and that really hurt us.”

The Rams, who had a reputation as a very good shooting team, hit on 14 of 33 three-point attempts while Winnipeg could only manage one made three-pointer in 20 attempts.

Kyanna Giles had 13 points and three rebounds for the Wesmen, who got a 10-point performance from Filewich, a fifth-year forward in her final season of eligibility. Filewich also had six rebounds.

Hezekiah, who also played her final game as a member of the Wesmen, finished with eight rebounds and 13 points.

“We were hoping for more but it was in our hands,” said Hezekiah. “I’m disappointed in myself… I’m disappointed that I couldn’t be there for my teammates and do more for our team, for our coaches and for all the people who were at home supporting us.

“We received such an outpouring of love and support to push us to where we were at. It’s really sad that we can couldn’t bring it home and make people happy.”

Ryerson guard Kyia Giles, Kyanna’s twin, had two assists and six points.

The sisters, teammates since their high school days at Sisler and for their first three U Sports seasons at the University of Regina, had never faced each other as opponents before.

After the final buzzer, Kyia immediately went to console her sister before joining her celebrating teammates.

The Wesmen were making their first appearance in a national final since 2003, when they dropped a 60-51 decision to the Victoria Vikes in Hamilton, Ont.

Winnipeg’s last title came at the 1995 final, capped with a 72-61 triumph over the Manitoba Bisons in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Winnipeg advanced to the final with a 81-67 quarter-final win over the Laval Rouge et Or and a 80-78 win over the host Queen’s Gaels in the semifinals.

The Rams, meanwhile, thrashed the UPEI Panthers 80-49 in the quarter-finals before going to overtime to beat the Brock Badgers 64-56 in the semis.

FREE THROWS: Winnipeg’s Keylyn Filewich and Faith Hezekiah were named to the all-tournament squad. Other all-stars included Ryerson’s Mikaela Dodig, Jama Bin-Edward and Emma Ritcey of Queen’s … Earlier Sunday, Summer Masikewich scored 18 points to lead the Saskatchewan Huskies to an 80-48 win over UPEI in Sunday’s fifth-place game… Queen’s dumped Brock 75-57 to earn tournament bronze.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14