VANCOUVER - UBC Thunderbirds basketball returns to War Memorial Gym this Friday with both the men's and women's teams seeing exhibition action. The T-Bird men host the Laurentian Voyageurs of the OUA at 8:00 p.m. following the women's tilt against fellow Canada West squad Lethbridge at 6:00 p.m.
It will be the first home action of the season for the women, who have spent part of their preseason in Taiwan competing at the Fo Guang Cup. The 'Birds went 3-3 at the eight-team tournament, beating Malaysia, Hong Kong and the National Taiwan College of Physical Education along the way.
The usual suspects were in fine form for the 'Birds in Taiwan, as Canada West All-Star
Lia St. Pierre twice led the team in scoring and picked up a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds in their fourth game of the tournament.
Zara Huntley also picked up a double-double in that game with 15 points and 16 rebounds, and dangerous rookie
Kris Young turned in some solid rebounding performances throughout the tournament.
They will take on a Lethbridge Pronghorns team that just squeaked into the playoffs last year before being bounced in the first round by the Prairie Division-winning Regina Cougars. In their only head-to-head action last year, the T-Birds beat the Pronghorns 75-66 on the road.
The men kicked off their preseason with a pair of games against NCAA opponents, including a contest at War Memorial Gym against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The 'Birds were bested 80-62 in that game, but went on to win both exhibition games in Ontario last week against Laurier and Guelph.
Doug Plumb, a transfer from UFV, led the 'Birds with 26 points against the Laurier Golden Hawks, while
Josh Whyte,
Nathan Yu and
Alex Murphy all cracked double digits in scoring as well. Yu then led the team with 17 points against Guelph, while Whyte recorded a double-double with 14 points in 11 rebounds as the T-Birds held off a second half rally by the Gryphons to pick up a 79-76 win.
The Laurentian Voyageurs finished 6-16 last year which left them out of the playoffs in sixth place in the OUA East Division.
Both the men and women begin the conference season with a two-game series against Saskatchewan, with games on October 22 and 23 at War Memorial Gym. That will be a big series for both teams, as the men lost to Saskatchewan in both the Canada West Final Four and the CIS championship game last year, while the women won a nail-biter by a score of 68-65 against the Huskies last year before watching them eventually go on to a CIS tournament berth.
-30-
