WINNIPEG – The Manitoba Bisons (8-11) clinched their third consecutive playoff berth on Friday night at Investors Group Athletic Centre, topping the Brandon Bobcats (1-18) 84-72. The victory also snapped a six-game losing skid for the Herd. 

"It's been an up-and-down year I would say in the sense that there's been absolute moments of pure click where we get that flow and there's been times where we literally forget about it," Bisons head coach Michele Sung said postgame.

"For us, we've just got to make sure that we're rolling and taking that opportunity of playoffs and using it to our advantage as much as we can."

Senior Emma Thompson — playing in her final home series as a Bison — led the way offensively for Manitoba with 18 points, while the Bobcats were paced by leading scorer Adrianna Proulx's 18.

A 13-13 tie with four minutes to go in the first period was blown wide open by Manitoba. They outscored Brandon 18-5 the rest of the way and never trailed afterwards.

Two treys during Manitoba's run at the end of the first, as well as rock solid defence were critical.

"I think that we got back to that flow a little bit of not forcing one v ones, but also taking them when we had the space and then catch and shoot," added Sung.

"We were trying to get to the free throw line and for whatever reason we could not buy a foul call, so we just talked about getting into the paint and pitching out to shooters. We worked a tonne on that this week of re-locating on paint touches, because if we're not going to get to the free throw line we might as well shoot a three."

Thompson was lights out from the perimeter, nailing three treys as Manitoba led 31-18. Proulx had five points down the stretch as well as a block for Brandon.

There were just nine combined field goals in the second period as both sides tightened up on defence. The Bobcats got into the bonus relatively early on, with first-year Sydney Teece and Proulx capitalizing inside, combining for 15 first half points. The visitors also got to the line 11 times, but made just five attempts.

The Bisons got steady production in the second from guard Keziah Brothers, who was deadly in transition, recording four points in the quarter and ten entering the third as Manitoba led 43-31.

Each team also got their bench involved, as 23 total players recorded at least two-and-a-half minutes.

Brandon continued to get to the line in the third period and also picked up 11 offensive boards, but couldn't capitalize on their open looks on a consistent basis. Forward Bailey Johnson played the biggest factor inside, tallying four rebounds.

On the Bisons side, forward Autumn Agar provided great intensity on both ends of the floor, tallying two blocks and a team-leading five rebounds through three as Manitoba led 58-46.

Transition play and great ball movement aided the Bisons in the fourth, as they increased their lead to as much as 20 to close things out. Brandon made a late surge but it was too little too late.

Both teams will be back at it tomorrow at 5 p.m.