Huskies taking advantage of week off before post-season opener

SASKATOON – After battling their way down the home stretch the Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball team is enjoying some well-earned time off.

“It’s really nice to have this weekend off. We’re pretty banged up right now, especially with those tough games the last two weekends. We had people play some long minutes,” head coach Lisa Thomaidis said.

The Huskies reeled off 16 straight wins before running into a couple of tough teams to close out the regular season. Saskatchewan split both of their last two weekend series against the Alberta Pandas and Regina Cougars, and it took a victory over Regina in their final game to clinch the number one seed in the Canada West playoffs.

“It’s probably the best situation you could be in for wanting to win a championship,” said fifth-year guard Laura Dally. “We watched film, we learned from our mistakes and I was so proud of us Saturday night, the way we battled and got the W.”

“At this time of year we need to be tested. We needed to be exposed in terms of some of our weaknesses and we were. I don’t think we need any more motivation than that, the fact we were .500 basically over the last four games,” Thomaidis added.

READ MORE: Huskies women’s hoops undeterred by first loss

While the Dogs remain one of the top teams in the country they know they need to up their game in the post-season, especially on the defensive end.

“If we want to be successful we have to defend. Team defence and also one-on-one, and we also have to rebound the ball very well,” Dally said.

“(We need to) be more aggressive with on-the-ball defence, and never relax when our person doesn’t have the ball,” said rookie guard Sabine Dukate. “We have problems sometimes when we just follow the ball as it’s flying and we’re too late.”

So as the conference’s lower-seeded teams try to play their way into the quarter-finals this weekend, the Huskies will be hard at work on the practice court preparing for the playoff spotlight.

“I know last year I loved it and I soaked it up,” said Dally, a Western University transfer. “So I just said (to the rookies) take it one day at a time and love it, because the season goes by quick.”