Files from U of A Sports Information
EDMONTON - Trailing 1-0 in their best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series, the no. 10 ranked UBC Thunderbirds used a massive fourth quarter surge to upend the no. 8 Alberta Pandas 76-59 and keep their season alive Saturday night in Edmonton.
The win ties the series at a game apiece, meaning the two sides, who hadn't met in a playoff series since 2001, will put it all on the line on Sunday at 2:00 pm MST for the right to advance to the Canada West Final Four.
Zara Huntley, a third-year post player out of Halifax, led all scorers on the floor with 16 points for UBC. Three other T-Birds also banked double-digit scoring for the Birds, including
Candace Morisset and
Lia St. Pierre who each netted 12.
Senior Marisa Haylett led Alberta in scoring with 14 points, while fourth-year Emily Bolduc chipped in with 12 and junior forward Georgia Popovici added 10.
The T-Birds came out flying in the opening quarter of Saturday night's match, as
Deb Huband's squad looked to set the tone and tempo early.
UBC staked out a 21-15 lead after ten, and although Alberta played a better second quarter, they could only cut the deficit to five points, 35-30, heading into halftime.
The T-Birds lead ballooned to as much as 10-points in the third, but Haylett and the Pandas kept clawing themselves back into it, with Haylett, who is originally from Vancouver, putting down four buckets, part of a 22-point third quarter for Alberta.
Trailing 53-52 with ten minutes to go, everything went wrong from Alberta, while the visitors could only do right. UBC out scored Alberta 23-7 over the final frame to even the series.
Alex Vieweg was a force under the defensive glass for UBC, collecting eight boards, and nine in total to lead all players. UBC also picked up four blocks against the smaller Pandas, with Huntley leading the way at two.
UBC was also successful in getting to the line, as the T-Birds went 24-of-32 from the free throw line compared to just 7-of-9 for the Panadas
Both teams were sharp from beyond the arc, but UBC's
Devan Lisson was sharpest, hitting 3-4, while Haylett hit four of seven to lead Alberta.
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