The University of the Fraser Valley basketball teams wrapped up the Canada West regular season in impressive fashion, sweeping the Trinity Western Spartans in a home-and-home set.
The effort from the men's team was particularly noteworthy – the Cascades were locked into the No. 2 seed in the Pacific Division and had nothing tangible to play for, while the Spartans were battling for their playoff lives and absolutely had to have the two wins.
UFV denied them, though, winning 58-54 in Langley on Thursday and 83-78 in Abbotsford on Saturday to finish at 17-5 and run their team-record win streak to 14 games.
On Tuesday, the UFV men made their first appearance in the CIS national rankings, snagging the No. 10 spot.
This week, the Cascades host the Lethbridge Pronghorns (15-7), the No. 3 seed from the Prairie Division, in a best-of-three set. Games run Thursday, Friday and Saturday (if necessary) at the Envision Athletic Centre, with tip-off at 7 p.m. each night.
Looking ahead to the series, head coach Adam Friesen drew a parallel to the recent Super Bowl match-up which saw the Denver Broncos and their record-setting offence clash with the defensive powerhouse Seattle Seahawks.
It's an apt comparison, as Lethbridge boasts the top offence in the conference (84.3 points per game), while UFV is second in team defence (66.1 points allowed per game).
Seattle, of course, trounced the Broncos 43-8, and the Cascades hope defence trumps offence in this case, too.
"That would be nice," Friesen said with a chuckle. "But we know we've got to play the games. We'll be ready."
The UFV women clinched first place in the Pacific at 17-5, by virtue of 78-54 and 55-39 wins over the Spartans (5-17).
They have a week off before hosting the Calgary Dinos (13-9) next week (Feb. 27 and 28, and March 1 if necessary, 7 p.m. tip-offs).
The schedule break is fortuitous for the Cascades, who have a pair of key players injured in point guard Aieisha Luyken (ankle) and forward Kayli Sartori (concussion).
"If we were playing this week, we probably wouldn't have either of those players," head coach Al Tuchscherer noted. "We're hoping to have both of them back for next week, but you never know, especially with a concussion situation."
The veteran Cascades crushed the youthful Dinos 60-36 on the first weekend of the regular season, but Tuchscherer expects a tougher test next week.
"They've had that much more experience to figure things out on offence and defence, and their chemistry is going to be better," he said. "It's going to be a different series, for sure."