VANCOUVER - A close game at halftime was blown wide open by the UBC Thunderbirds in the third quarter, as they outscored the Fraser Valley Cascades 17-2 in the frame en route to a 72-47 win on Saturday night at War Memorial Gym.
Both offences were struggling to begin the third quarter, as the halftime score of 39-32 UBC held up for more than three minutes. A steal and layup by UBC's
Alex Vieweg ended the drought, but it would be almost another three minutes until the Cascades' first basket of the quarter, and it turned out to be their only one until early in the fourth.
"Both teams were struggling to start that third quarter," said UBC head coach
Deb Huband. "We made a bunch of consecutive stops but made some poor decisions in the front court. But our defence held and at some point our offence started to click."
Alexa McCarthy's basket at the mid point of the third quarter ended a 13-0 UBC run, but it only took the 'Birds about a minute to get started on another one. The home side put the game away with a 14-0 run while the Cascades endured more than seven minutes of play without a point. Once they finally got back on the board in the fourth quarter, the game was far beyond reach with the score 60-36 UBC.
Lia St. Pierre,
Devan Lisson,
Zara Huntley and
Alex Vieweg all hit double digits in scoring for the T-Birds, and they all shared the ball brilliantly as well, combining for 19 assists.
"We are learning how to move and share the ball, and be more patient and selective offensively," said Huband. "I'd still like to bring those turnovers down a bit but we are moving in the right direction and breaking it open in tonight's game was an example of that."
Huntley was big at both ends of the court, scoring a game-high 15 points and racking up six blocks and three steals on defence. Lisson spread the Cascades defence out with solid three-point shooting and smart passing. She had 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting from deep, and had eight assists.
UBC shot 53.8 per cent as a team, and 50 per cent from three-point range. The Cascades were held to 29.3 per cent shooting, and hit less than 18 per cent of their second half shots.
Tessa Klassen led the Cascades with 12 points. Sarah Weirks had nine points and five rebounds.
The T-Birds got back to .500 at 5-5 on the year, while Cascades drop to 2-6, having lost six in a row since starting out 2-0. Another tough challenge lies ahead for them in the form of 7-3 Thompson Rivers, who they play at home next week. The T-Birds remain at War Memorial Gym next weekend to finish a three week homestand against 2-8 Lethbridge. Games are at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 26 and Saturday, November 27.
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