The University of the Fraser Valley women's basketball team defeated the University of Saskatchewan 73-58 Saturday in a thrilling third game to clinch the Canada West quarter-finals.

With the win the Cascades advance to the Final Four in Calgary this weekend.

"I'm really proud of our effort tonight. They pushed us to the max but we didn't break," said head coach Al Tuchscherer. "[It's] a real team effort with key plays from so many different players. I'm excited to be going back to the Final Four."

The Cascades won the first best-of-three series 65-58 Thursday, then lost to the Huskies 67-56 on Friday.

With everything on the line the Cascades came out firing Saturday night with a 12-point offensive run to open the first quarter. The second quarter showed a more ferocious UFV defence, holding Saskatchewan scoreless three minutes in.

The second half began with UFV increasing its lead to 14 before the Huskies went on a nine-point run in the third.

The fourth quarter saw the Huskies turn up the intensity to come within two points of the Cascades.

Aieisha Luyken and Nicole Wierks showed their veteran strength to take the Cascades from a two-point lead back to a 10-point lead with under a minute to play. Kayli Sartori led the Cascades with 19 points, Sarah Wierks chipped in 13 and Luyken ended with 10 points.

The victory marks the third straight year UFV has won the Canada West quarter-finals and moves onto the elite Final Four. The Cascades are looking to advance to their first CIS 'Final 8' elite championship tournament, to be held in Regina, Sask. in two weeks.

MEN WIN HOOPS QUARTER-FINALS

The UFV men's basketball team defeated the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 92-76 in Canada West quarter-final action Sunday to earn a berth in the Final Four tournament this weekend in Point Grey.

Kyle Grewal's veteran leadership and determination not to see his final year end early paced the Cascades while Klaus Figueredo and Kevon Parchment had big games in the win.

"What can you say about the play of Klaus, Manny [Dulay] and Andy [Khaira] tonight; they stepped up and played like fifth year veterans," said head coach Adam Friesen. "Their contributions in the first half set the tone for the victory."

Dulay and Figueredo hit several three pointers to take the wind out of the Huskies and set the pace for a double digit lead down the stretch, out-scoring Saskatchewan by 10 points in the final stanza to clinch the playoff series victory.

Figueredo led UFV in scoring with 22 points, Grewal hit for 19, Dulay and Khaira had 14 each, Parchment 13 and James York 10.

"All season long [Sam] Freeman and Parchment led the way; it is nice to see the other guys scoring and having some offensive success," said Friesen.

The two Canada West Final Four semifinal winners will play in Ontario the weekend of March 8-10.

JKonda-Witte@abbotsfordtimes.com