VANCOUVER - The no. 10 ranked UBC Thunderbirds (11-7) will be on the road this weekend as they begin their Canada West playoff journey in Edmonton against the no. 8 ranked Alberta Pandas (15-5) in a best-of-three quarterfinal series.
In the new CW playoff format, the third-placed T-Birds out of the Pacific Division travel to the second-placed Pandas from the Prairie Division with the winner of this series earning a spot in the CW Final Four.
The top three teams from the CW Final Four advance to the CIS Championship, so needless to say a win in this weekend's series is a must for the T-Birds who are trying to get back to the national stage after missing out last season.
UBC and Alberta open the series on Friday night, with tip-off scheduled for 6:00 p.m. PST. That schedule holds for game two on Saturday, however, if the series stretches to game three on Sunday, tip-off moves to 2:00 p.m.
The T-Birds and Pandas met once during the regular season in Vancouver, with Alberta earning a hard fought 57-53 victory.
A look at the Thunderbirds
UBC enters the playoffs following a somewhat disappointing end to their season, as they lost four of their last five games to drop from second in the Pac-D (and a home playoff date) to third and a road trip to Edmonton. The silver lining may very well be, however, that Saskatchewan, one of the top ranked teams in the nation all season and currently ranked no. 3, finished third in the Prairie Division and will be traveling to Victoria for the first round of the playoffs.
The T-Birds finished sixth in both scoring offence (72.4 points per game) and scoring defence (64 points allowed per game), however, they still owned a healthy +8.4 scoring margin. Offensively they were extremely efficient, finishing second in field goal percentage (44.5%) and topping the league in three-point shooting (35.9%). They were, however, second last in the league in free throw shooting (67.3%), making a league low 214 free throws.
Their ball movement and balance on offence, they ranked second in the league with 17.6 assists per game, saw UBC end up with a trio of scoring threats in guard
Lia St. Pierre (13.3 points per game), forward
Alex Vieweg (13.1), and post
Zara Huntley (13.7). That trio also lead UBC's rebounding effort, as they combine for just over 18 boards per game. Seniors guards
Devan Lisson and
Candace Morisset are charged with running the offence and they average almost seven assists per contest.
A look at the Pandas
Alberta took care of business in the second half of the season and enter the post-season as one of the hottest teams in the conference. After losing their first game of 2010 to no. 1 Simon Fraser, the Pandas won nine straight to end their regular season and lock up second spot in their division. Of note, however, not one team the Pandas beat during that run in playoff bound.
One of the top defensive teams in the conference this season, Alberta ranked second in the Canada West in scoring defence (59.2 points allowed per game) and field goal percentage defence (35.7%) while topping the league in three-point field goal defence (25.0%). Offensively they were solid, averaging 72.7 points on 41.1% shooting. They also shot well from the charity stripe, averaging 72.2% on their free throws, taking advantage of their 489 trips to the line (second most in CW).
Much like the T-Birds, the Pandas have relied on a trio for their offensive output. Marisa Haylett leads the team with 14 points per game, while Nicole Clarke and Emily Bolduc averaged 13.1 and 12.1 per game respectively. Clarke, however, has only played 10 games due to injury and none in the second half of the year. Alberta is not a very dangerous shooting team, no player has attempted more than 66 three-pointers, however, they rebound by committee and pass the ball well on offence. Their bench is also extremely deep as 11 players average more than 10 minutes per game.
-30-
