Women's Quarterfinals Recap: Tommie Genesis

While their male compatriots battle the country's best on their home court, the ladies march into battle against the team that hosted the big dance last year, the ACAA champion St. Thomas Tommies.

VIU 56, St. Thomas 41

The Mariners had a lot fun holding teams to single digits in the first quarter this season.

Apparently it's not as fun when they're the ones stuck in the mud.

The lack of offense wasn't from lack of trying: Both VIU and St. Thomas shot a combined 5-35 in the first quarter and 2-14 from three.

Both teams heated up in the second quarter as St. Thomas maintained their lead, but it never got higher than four. A Sarah Cook jump shot at the buzzer got it within one going into the half.

Paige Leblanc made a pair of free throws to get the lead back up to three, but a pair of jump shots from Sarah Cook and Kaia Simpson gave VIU a lead they would never relinquish. The Mariners turned a one-point deficit into a thirteen point lead over the course of the quarter, getting contributions from all around their lineup.

VIU and St. Thomas were evenly matched in the fourth quarter, but the lead was too large for the Tommies to overcome. The Mariners ride into the national semifinals for the first time since 2023.

Kaia Simpson was named VIU's player of the game and did what she's done so often this season. She dropped a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double off the bench, leading the Mariners in both categories. VIU's only other double digit scorer, Sammy Shields, also came off the bench, scoring 11 points.

St. Thomas' player of the game, Paige LeBlanc, was the only Tommie to eclipse double digits in scoring with 13 points. The CCAA player of the year, Charlee Connors, was held to only 7 points, but pulled down 11 rebounds, the most by any player.

With TKU's loss to Dawson later in the day, the Mariners are the highest ranked team remaining. They face the second-highest ranked team, the Geants de Saint-Jean, in the semifinals on Thursday. The winner of that game will face either the OCAA champion Fanshawe Falcons or the host Dawson Blues. St. Thomas moves to the bronze bracket, where they will face the NAIT Ooks in the bronze quarterfinals.