Friday Night Finals
The Mariners, Bearcats and Falcons get the win on Friday night in women's basketball
Following Friday’s games, the PACWEST women’s playoff bracket is now set for the 2026 championship tournament.
VIU Mariners 62
Douglas Royals 49
Less than 24 hours after head coach Tony Bryce announced he’s stepping down following the season, his Mariners came out flying on Friday night with a statement win over the second place Royals.
Defence was the name of the game on both sides holding their opponents to extremely low shooting percentages. The Mariners forced 30 turnovers and combined for 14 steals as they held the Royals to 27% shooting and 1-17 from the three-point line. When their own offence did find the hoop, Trista Thorn and Kaia Simpson, off the bench each tallied 13 points in their team’s 20th win of the season.
The Royals defence was equally impressive holding the Mariners to 28% shooting and forced 19 turnovers. On the offensive side the Royals found their stroke in the fourth quarter outscoring the Mariners 21-10 which will help them build confidence going into Saturday’s rematch. Laini Glover was the only Royals player to score double digits finishing with 11 points and Mackenzie Dalphond pulled down 14 rebounds. Despite the loss, the Royals clinch second place after the Capilano Blues also suffered a loss on Friday night. The Royals now receive a bye into the semifinal round when the playoffs open in two weeks.
On Saturday the Mariners (20-3) will host the Royals (17-6) for the final time at 1:00pm.
Langara Falcons 58
Capilano Blues 57
It wasn’t the prettiest shooting game, but it was a heck of a finish as the Falcons hit the 10-win plateau with the upset victory over the visiting Blues.
The first quarter belonged to the visitors, outscoring the Falcons 15-6. The Blues carried that momentum over the course of the first three quarters until the Falcons found an extra gear in the fourth and took the lead for good despite a late push by the Blues with under a minute to play. The visitors had a couple of opportunities to take the lead but couldn’t connect on a timely bucket with the Falcons playing solid defence.
Overall, the Falcons shot 34% led by Biance Padolina off the bench with 15 points. Their defence was impressive holding the Blues to 29% shooting and the created 20 turnovers in the win.
Maddy Coffin not only led her Blues, but all scorers with 20 points and she was one rebound away from a double-double. Barcha Hnizdilova added 10 and 13 in the losing cause while their bench was very quiet with a total of nine points scored.
With the loss, the Blues will now settle for the third seed in the standings and will meet the Camosun Chargers in a quarterfinal when the playoffs begin in two weeks. The Falcons will meet the CBC Bearcats in the other semifinal.
On Saturday night the Blues (15-8) and Falcons (10-13) will meet to conclude the regular season at 5:00pm.
CBC Bearcats 55
Camosun Chargers 41
The Bearcats (13-10) played an excellent road game, outscoring the home side 29-16 in the first half then cruised to their 13th win of the year. They shot 34% and did a nice job to get all their rostered players some playing time with the playoffs looming. Hyewon Hwang was excellent, leading the offence with 14 points.
The Chargers (6-17) offence struggled at 20% and didn’t get an easy look thanks to the Bearcats’ defence. Not one of their players scored more than six points.
These two schools will meet for the final time on Saturday afternoon at 1:00pm in the rematch and the final tuneup before the postseason.