Herd charge out of the gate

The Manitoba Bisons have designs on finding some sustained success this season.

A solid first step was taken Friday night, as the Bisons earned a hard-fought 83-70 season-opening victory against the cross-town rival Winnipeg Wesmen in Canada West women’s hoops action at the Duckworth Centre.

Fourth-year forward Anna Miko propelled the Bisons on the strength of an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Samantha Onyebuchi also supplied an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double.

“We’ve all basically played against each other for the last, what, six-ish years? So I mean it’s nice to come compete in university, but especially in their gym, it’s sweeter to get the win,” Miko said.

Izzi Fust had 13 points, and Taylor Schepp chipped in with 11 on a night in which Manitoba controlled the glass and dominated in the paint. Bisons head coach Michele Sung was taken aback when she learned Miko’s final stat line.

“I think we just tried to really develop her motor, meaning she can play at the same consistent effort and pace for the time that she plays — some nights that’s 38 minutes, and some nights that’s 20,” Sung said.

“So just buying into that efficiency when she’s on the floor, I thought she did a great job in the second half of playing off two feet, just being balanced. I thought it was a pretty physical game both sides, and thought we did a good job of staying composed and playing through it.”

Manitoba has done enough to reach the post-season in seven of the last eight seasons, but has failed to make much noise once it gets there.

With a few key additions this summer, including the homecoming of third-year Fust — who filled the stat sheet, adding five rebounds and seven assists on this night — Miko is confident that the Bisons are as well-rounded as they’ve been since she arrived.

“I think once the season is over, you’ve got to forget about it and start building for the next year, but it definitely does sting because you want to make this playoff push, you want to get to nationals, those CanWest finals. But I think this is a new year, we’ve got a great group to work with, and I really think we can make a really hard push this year.”

The Wesmen, who earned a lopsided victory over the Brandon Bobcats in their season opener, dropped to 1-1. A bright spot on this night was a potential budding star in freshman guard Ella Castres, who supplied 15 points after dropping 11 in her U Sports debut. Fifth-year guard Raia Guinto matched Castres with a team-high 15 points.

Sung admitted the win wasn’t pretty — both sides finished with 22 turnovers — but she doesn’t anticipate that many will be in the conference this season.

“I think every Canada West game is going to be pretty tight, and anybody can win on any given night. I think today was a testament to that, and I think every coach is really well prepared, as well,” Sung said.

“At the end of the day, you still have to have players that come out and play well. Anna did that for us, but I thought we had a lot of players play really well within their role, as well, today. Lots to build on, and if we can get more people playing more consistently, we’re going to be pretty tough.”

In the men’s contest later in the evening, the Wesmen rolled to a 93-67 victory over the Bisons on the strength of a stellar 25-point, 11-rebound double-double from fifth-year forward Elijah Mensah.

The Wesmen, who held leads of 30-9, 48-33 and 71-53 after the first three quarters, followed up on a season-opening victory over Brandon to improve to 2-0.

“I think we just stuck to the game plan,” Mensah said. “My teammates did a good job of finding me, and I just tried to stay aggressive like coach told me, and it all worked out.”

Alberto Gordo finished with 18 points, and Kato Jaro chipped in with 16 on a night Winnipeg connected on 51 per cent of its shots.

“I think he did a lot of things to help us. I’m so proud of how hard he’s worked,” Wesmen head coach Mike Raimbault said of Mensah. “Obviously, he had to sort of bide his time for a bigger opportunity, but he’s continued to work and develop and put in time. I think the biggest thing is that he’s playing with a level of confidence in things we saw in spurts and always knew he was capable of, but so far this season he’s doing it on a regular basis.”

Meanwhile, it was the debut of a new era for the Bisons, who enter this season with a younger, reloaded starting five after graduating all five of their starters from a season ago.

Taven Vigilance and Brandt Lenz paced Manitoba with 11 points, respectively.

Both Bisons squads will host Brandon on Sunday. The Wesmen teams will host MacEwan next weekend.

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