WINDSOR — The Huskies landed a spot in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport women’s basketball championship final with a 58-40 win over St. Francis Xavier Saturday.

The Dogs jumped off to a good start by putting together a 13-0 run, which included a pair of three-pointers from Marci Kiselyk and Jill Humbert and a highlight reel lay-in from Katie Miyazaki.

Although the Huskies never gave up the lead, St. FX did challenge the Dogs in the second and third quarters to spark a minor comeback.

Pressure from St. FX prevented the Huskies from moving the ball into the offensive zone. By the middle of the third quarter, St. FX had closed the gap to two points.

However, a stellar performance from Huskie veteran Jana Spindler secured the victory as the Dogs were able to pull away in the fourth quarter.

“We only had one of their games to watch on film and we saw the type of ball pressure that they could bring and the rebounding pressure that they had,” said Spindler. “Our focus was to lock them down and not let their defence control us.”

Spindler was awarded player of the game for her strong second half, which included 8 rebounds and 15 of her game high 18 points.

“Spindler showed up in the second half and she had a huge post presence for us,” said fifth-year Huskie Kim Tulloch. “She took some of the pressure off the perimeter because we were getting the ball inside and she was drawing fouls.”

At certain moments when it appeared that St. FX was gaining momentum, Tulloch hit key three-pointers to keep the Huskies ahead.”‹

“It helps us out that we have a veteran team and that we can keep composed,” she said.

Miyazaki, Humbert and Kiselyk also had great performances.

Miyazaki continued her great defensive play by putting up 6 steals and 8 rebounds, and was able to contribute offensively as well — something she didn’t do on Friday. She had 6 points and 5 assists.

“I was more aggressive today,” she said. “I was settling for outside shots yesterday. This time I was taking it to the rim.”

Humbert had 14 points and Kiselyk had 10.

Sheryl Chisholm, Kirsten Jones and Ashley Stephen each put up 10 points for St. FX.

The Huskies will face the winner of the Windsor and Cape Breton semi-final.

As the Huskies were leaving the court after their game and the Windsor fans were finding their seats, the Windsor fans were screaming “Silver!”

Windsor went on to win their game and the fans were chanting “we want huskies!” in the dying seconds.