NEW YORK (AP) — Nneka Ogwumike and the other members of the WNBA players' union executive committee felt that movement was being made toward a new collective bargaining agreement after nine hours of negotiations Wednesday night.

“We want to play. We’ve heard that from the other side as well,” Ogwumike, the union president, said just before midnight. “We need to see a more robust demonstration of that.”

Wednesday’s negotiating session came on the heels of a marathon 12-hour meeting that began at 5 p.m. EDT on Tuesday. The sides plan to speak again Thursday.

“That first day was a lot, but I think what we’re feeling is like movement, you know, being able to be in the room, being able to exchange proposals,” Ogwumike said.

It was always going to be a difficult task for the Manitoba Bisons to conquer a nationally ranked team on the road while short on rest.

Make no mistake: it was a scrappy effort from the veteran Bisons, but they ultimately ran out of gas in a season-ending 77-69 defeat against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in the Canada West men’s basketball quarterfinals in Vancouver on Friday.

Manitoba had defeated its inter-provincial rival, Brandon Bobcats, in a hard-fought play-in contest at the same venue on Thursday evening and needed to get up again for another high-stakes matchup against the No. 6-ranked team in the country.

A high-paced affair saw the Thunderbirds hold leads of 18-15, 39-28 and 59-49 at the end of each frame.

IT was far from a banner day on offence for the Manitoba Bisons, but it didn’t need to be with the way they took care of business on their end of the floor.

Less than a week after they dominated their inter-provincial rival in consecutive contests at home, the Bisons were pushed much harder by the Brandon Bobcats in Thursday night’s Canada West conference hoops play-in game on a neutral court, but emerged with a 79-68 victory at the University of British Columbia’s War Memorial Gym.

A strong fourth quarter, spurred by 11 points from fifth-year guard Daren Watts — who finished with 19 — saved fifth-seeded Manitoba from an upset against its 12th-seeded opponent.

The Bisons held leads of 20-15 and 36-29 after the first two quarters, but the Bobcats came alive offensively out of the break, scoring 26 in the third frame to take a 55-53 lead into the final quarter.