Here we go again.
A week after the Briercrest College Clippers men’s volleyball team went on an epic run of upsets on their way to the ACAC championship, the Clippers women’s basketball team opened their playoff tournament with a stunner of their own.
Briercrest trailed by as much as 11 in the second half to the North Division top-seed Concordia Thunder but would put together an incredible comeback, going on to a 74-63 victory in Lethbridge.
On paper, the game looked like it was going to be a lopsided one -- Concordia came into the tournament with the second-best record in the ACAC at 16-4, while the Clippers were 13-8 and the fourth seed out of the South Division.
There was a caveat, though. The two teams had met back at the beginning of November, and it was a hard-fought battle that saw Concordia escape with a 61-58 victory.
That all set the stage for Thursday night, and with just under five minutes to play in the third quarter, it looked as if things would go according to the seedings. Concordia had an 11-point lead after holding a 39-24 edge at the half and had appeared to essentially take control of the game.
But a pair of successful free throws by Brooklyn Martens with 4:26 remaining in the quarter signalled a dramatic shift in the proceedings.
A minute later, the Clippers had closed to within six. A Kiana Ens three-pointer with 2:58 to play in the third made it a three-point game, and a Martens jump shot with 56 seconds remaining gave Briercrest a 51-50 lead.
The Thunder would tie things 53-53 only 13 seconds into the fourth quarter, but that would be the last good news for the favourites. Amber Fichtner tipped in a shot 2:30 into the final frame, and the Clippers were off to the races. They’d never trail again, building a 16-point lead at one point before settling for their 11-point win.
Ens ended up with one of her best games of the season, coming off the bench to lead the Clippers with 18 points. Fichtner continued her solid campaign with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Martens had nine points and 10 rebounds. Maddison Beattie also had a good game defensively with seven rebounds.
Briercrest now advances to the semifinal, where they’ll take on the Red Deer Queens, the second-best team in the South Division with a 15-6 record.
The two clubs met twice in Red Deer in mid-January, with the Queens taking 78-65 and 83-71 victories.
The University of Alberta Augustana and St. Mary’s play in the other semifinal, with the winner advancing to the gold medal game on Saturday night.
The Clippers’ men’s hockey team is hours away from making even more history than they already have.
After putting together the best ACAC record in team history at 13-9-0-2 to finish in fourth place in the seven-team league, Briecrest will host their first-ever playoff series beginning Friday night at the Barkman Arena.
The best-of-three quarter-final series will see the Clippers taking on the defending ACAC champion NAIT Ooks, who finished in fifth place at 10-13-0-1.
The teams met four times in the regular season, and to say things were close between the clubs would be an understatement. NAIT took a 4-2 win on Nov. 11, followed by Briercrest taking a 2-1 overtime win in the rematch on Nov. 12. The shoe was on the other foot in the second meeting, with the Clippers winning 3-2 in OT on Feb. 10 and NAIT taking a 5-3 victory on Feb. 11.
Game 2 of the series is set for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Barkman, with the third and deciding game set for 3 p.m. Sunday if necessary.
