DAVID LARKINS, Wesmen Athletics

It's arguably been more than 20 years since the Duckworth Centre hosted a women's basketball game with so much buzz.

And the Winnipeg Wesmen rose to the occasion in a battle of undefeateds.

The Wesmen women's basketball team overcame an inconsistent start and early deficit to pull away from the Saskatchewan Huskies in a 72-64 Canada West conference victory in a game featuring two of the top teams in the country.

The Wesmen were ranked No. 5 in the latest U Sports ELO top-10 and the Huskies were No. 1, but coaches polls throughout the season have had the teams 1-2 in some form. You'd have to go back to the 2000-2001 season for a game that even comes close to what Friday presented for highly-ranked teams. That year, the Manitoba Bisons and Wesmen were ranked 3-4 late in the season.

The Huskies, the defending national champions after the 2019-20 season, broke out on a 13-2 run over the first 4:36 of the first quarter, but the Wesmen closed that final 5:24 on a 17-3 run to take a lead they would relinquish just once the rest of way and for a grand total of 17 seconds.

A 13-3 Winnipeg run started the second quarter and the Wesmen eventually pushed the advantage to 11 before settling into halftime with a 43-33 edge. 

The Wesmen led by as many as 12 in the third quarter, but the Huskies pushed back. Katriana Philipenko hit a three with 4:35 to go in the third to cap off a 13-3 Saskatchewan run.

Winnipeg, however, kept its lead between six and 10 points for most of the rest of the way, avoiding a late Huskies push by holding the visitors to just six points over the final 4:56 of the game. 

"There was a lot of hype going into this game. The kids were talking about it, it was on social media," Wesmen head coach Tanya McKay said. "And so both were a bit nervous, both teams were doing things that they don't normally do. Saskatchewan plays tough D, they deny hard ... and it took the kids a little while to get used to. Now they have a taste of it, they know what it feels like it and they'll be more prepared."

It was Winnipeg's first conference win over Saskatchewan since Nov. 12, 2016 and its first home win over the Huskies since Feb. 7, 2014. The Wesmen did defeat the Huskies in Game 2 of the 2018 Canada West quarter-final in Saskatchewan, but ultimately lost the series in three. 

Keylyn Filewich led the Wesmen with 18 points and 13 rebounds, her sixth double-double of the past seven games. Anna Kernaghan scored 12 of her 17 points in the first half and provided some much-needed steady play when the Wesmen were having their shaky moments and dealing with foul trouble from star guard Kyanna Giles.

Faith Hezekiah also had 17 points and Giles finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four assists. 

"This was the measuring stick we needed," McKay said. "We needed to see where we were and what need to do against a great team, and they are a great team. They're well-coached, they're deep — Libby (Epoch) and Summer (Masikewich) are two of the best players in the country. We want to get better every day and tomorrow is a new day."

Masikewich, who was tied with Filewich as the top scorer in the Canada West coming into the game, was held to eight points and seven rebounds. Epoch, the Huskies' third-leading scorer had eight points on 2-for-9 shooting.

Carly Ahlstrom led the way with 29 points — with five of seven from three — and nine rebounds before fouling out. Philipenko knocked down 19 points and hit five of nine from three. 

The two teams will close the weekend with a 7 p.m. tip on Saturday.

—#REPTHEW—