EDMONTON - Rookie
Kris Young responded in a big way to getting the first start of her CIS career, tallying 23 points, four rebounds and four steals in 29 minutes to pace the UBC Thunderbirds in a 79-66 win over the Alberta Pandas Saturday night in Edmonton.
The reigning BC high school AAA MVP showed off her impressive overall game, going 8-of-12 from the field including 2-for-2 from long range and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
Fourth year
Zara Huntley just missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds while
Alex Vieweg and
Lia St. Pierre also hit double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively.
Anneka Bakker had 13 points and Katie Arbuthnot had 12 for the Pandas (3-1) who suffered their first defeat of the season.
Fourteen of Young's points came in the second half, as the T-Birds (3-3) rallied from a 41-37 deficit half-time deficit to get back to .500 on the season.
A pair of Young free throws tied the game two minutes into the third quarter, however, Alberta stretch their lead to 52-47 on a jumper by Bakker.
Back-to-back buckets from Huntley trimmed the Alberta lead to one before fifth-year guard
Devan Lisson put UBC ahead with 4:21 to play in the third. Alberta regained the lead momentarily before Young tied the game at 55-55. St. Pierre then scored four points over the final ninety seconds of the frame to put UBC ahead for good.
Young and Vieweg combined early in the fourth quarter to send UBC on an 8-0 run and the T-Bird lead never dipped below six the rest of the night.
Part of UBC's success was taking advantage of Alberta's 22 turnovers as they scored 20 points of those giveaways.
UBC returns to Vancouver next weekend to begin a three-week homestead against the Winnipeg Wesmen.
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