How good was the fourth-year guard in the game? Noonan sparked her team with a three-point buzzer beater from just inside of centre to end the first quarter. Winnipeg was already in full control of the game, but the excitement the shot generated from the bench as Noonan's teammates surrounded her and jolted their energy level for the rest of the game.

 
The Wesmen won 76-51 and Noonan ended up with 25 points. It could've been a lot more but Wesmen coach Tanya McKay rested the 21 year old most of the second half after she put up 22 points in the first 20 minutes.

 
"She did OK," said McKay with a smile about her captain's game. "She put up some good shots."

 
McKay had no smile in the first half of the opening quarter though with the way her team was playing and she first called Noonan over to chat and then called a timeout about a minute later to let them know her displeasure.

 
"As a team we didn't start how I wanted us to start," said McKay. "It's important that regardless of our opponent we're disciplined and we play hard. We didn't start that way so Megan being one of our captains, that's a message to her to send to her team. I think as the game went we did a better job, defensively we were much sharper, we played harder and our choice for shots was better."

After McKay's "pep" talk, Noonan was on fire for the rest of the first half, putting up 22 points, adding four assists and contributing two rebounds as the Wesmen built a 51-28 advantage at the half.

 
"We didn't start as well as we could've and she called us over and told us we needed to be more disciplined," said Noonan. "We are a smart team and we need to be more in control so that's what we did after she called us in."

 
Pronghorns coach Dave Adams rotated his lineup most of the first half, giving playing time to a dozen players, while McKay was able to give second-year Wesmen Lucija Golubic and Katie Hastings-Van some valuable minutes in a game her team is favoured to win.

 
Points were at a premium early in the first and second quarters with both, but after McKay's talk with Noonan, the Wesmen broke open the game which had seesawed back and forth, out scoring the 'Horns 22-8 in the back half of the opening quarter to take a 32-20 lead. The quarter ended with Noonan's three-point buzzer beater from just inside the Wesmen's side of centre.

 
"That shot was 90 per cent luck, 10 per cent skill," said Noonan, who played only 27 minutes in the game.

 
Coach McKay was happy for Noonan making the shot but cautioned her players it's not a shot he wants to see in every game.

 
"The kids always kind of dream of having the opportunity to take that shot and it happened to be Megan's moment to hit that shot, so good for her," said McKay. "It was on the buzzer so pretty exciting."

 
Other Wesmen point getters were: Taylor Thorkelsson, six points, three boards; Faith Hezekiah, four points, seven boards and Kerri Kuzbyt, five points, three boards. Golubic contributed five points for Winnipeg in the first half.

 
The Pronghorns were lead in the first half by Mariah Miller with nine points and six rebounds.

 
Winnipeg dominated from the free throw line in the first half shooting 94 per cent (17-of-18) while the Pronghorns were 64.3 per cent (9-of-14). Winnipeg finished the game at 77.8 per cent on free throws, while Lethbridge improved their average in the second half to finish at 73.7.

 
After Wesmen freshmen guard Lena Wenke (four points, two boards in the first half) went down with an ankle injury early in the third quarter — she walked off the court after several minutes and appeared to be fine — McKay saw no reason to risk injury to any of her other starters and sent her back-ups out for the rest of the quarter. As a result the Pronghorns were able to out score the Wesmen 15-7 in the last five minutes of the quarter after the visitors were scoreless in the first five minutes.

 
McKay sent her starters, minus Wenke, out to start the final quarter but after she was comfortable a surprise comeback from the Pronghorns wasn't going to happen once again sent out her younger players to get them some valuable minutes.

 
"They need to get experience and in a game like this you can play everybody and give them an opportunity to run what we're running in practice and get game-time experience," said McKay.

 
Golubic finished the game with 13 points, three boards for the Wesmen, while Brittania Brown just missed the double-double with 10 points, eight rebounds and Kaelei Knutson had four boards.

 
Pronghorns rookie Jessica Holod, from Balmoral, Man., was able to get in nine minutes of action and add two points, two rebounds in the game. Three Pronghorns led the team with nine points — Katie Keith, Miller and Elizabeth Buie — while Keith also had 14 boards.

 
The Wesmen and Pronghorns are back in action inside the Duckworth Centre for the second game of the weekend, Saturday at 6 p.m.