VANCOUVER - The no. 10 ranked UBC Thunderbirds (7-3) won their third in a row and fifth in their last six with a 103-62 victory over the Brandon Bobcats (1-11) Saturday night at War Memorial Gym.
The T-Birds came into the game with just the eighth ranked scoring offence in the conference (69.9 points per game), however, a dominant performance down low that saw them score 68 points in the paint propelled them to their biggest margin of victory this season.
"I think we came out really strong. We defended well and created some offence from our defence. We ran the floor really well and pushed the ball for most of the game," said UBC boss
Deb Huband. "We lost some intensity at different moments throughout the game but we had another strong team performance tonight."
Zara Huntley led UBC with 27 points, an individual season high for any T-Bird in 2009-10. The third-year post was 10-of-14 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the line in just 23 minutes of action.
The T-Birds ended the game 39-of-61 (63.9%) from the field and picked up 27 assists as they had five players hit double figures.
Alex Vieweg notched 16 points and had a team-high seven rebounds while
Lia St. Pierre added 14 and a team-best seven assists.
Brandon was led by Melanie Thompson and Stephanie Lacey-Avon who both finished with 11 points apiece. Reserve Kelsey Solarchuk added 10 off the bench as the 'Horns actually had two more shot attempts than UBC but only made good on 36.5% of their tries (23-of-63).
The T-Birds opened the first half with a near perfect offensive performance, making 13-of-17 field goals and earning 10 assists. Huntley led the way for UBC with 10 points and four rebounds while both
Candace Morisset and St. Pierre had four assists in the first 10 minutes.
The Bobcats came back strong in the second quarter, out scoring UBC 22-19. Solarchuk paced the 'Cats offensive effort with eight points and helped lead Brandon to 10-of-17 shooting from the floor.
The third quarter mirrored the first, as UBC came out at a furious pace and had their most dominant stretch of play outscoring the visitors 34-12. The T-Birds won the fourth quarter as well, 21-16, in an evenly played frame.
UBC forced the 'Cats into 28 turnovers and took full advantage by pocketing 31 points off turnovers and 20 on the fast break.
UBC remains at home next weekend as they host division foes Fraser Valley (1-8) while the Bobcats welcome the Lethbridge Pronghorns (6-5) to Brandon.
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