Ben Chessor
The Navigator
The Mariners women’s basketball team brought a medal back from the PacWest provincials. Unfortunately for the Mariners, it wasn’t the colour they were hoping far. The Mariners knocked off the Camosun Chargers 51-43 in the PacWest bronze medal game Saturday, March 1.
The Mariners battled back from an early defecate to defeat their rivals from Victoria. Camosun held a 17-7 lead after the first quarter and still led 27-20 at half time. The Mariners completed their comeback in the second half, taking a 39-36 lead in the third quarter. With the game tied 41-41 with six minutes to play, the Mariners finally sealed the victory, outscoring the chargers 10-2 in the game’s final six minutes.
A day earlier in the semi-finals, the Mariners found themselves on the losing side of a massive upset, as VIU was knocked off by the host Douglas College Royals 50-47 in overtime. The Mariners had an 11-1 lead early in the game, but Douglas refused quit, fighting their way back into the game and not letting the Mariners pull away. Then with the Mariners leading by five points and only 1:51 to play Douglas completed the comeback, scoring five points in the game’s final two minutes to force overtime with the game tied 43-43. The score was still tied in the final minute of overtime, when Douglas was able to make some crucial free throws to earn the victory.
The loss to Douglas College was the second loss in a row for the Mariners, who dropped their final regular season game 70-61 on the road against Camosun. The Mariners finished the PacWest regular season with a record of 20-1, which gave them top spot in the standings, eight points ahead of the second place Chargers.
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