VANCOUVER - An impressive all-around effort by
Zara Huntley led the UBC Thunderbirds to their first home win of 2011 and seventh straight overall, as they downed the Calgary Dinos 68-57 on Friday night at War Memorial Gym.
The 'Birds led comfortably from start to finish, beginning the game on a 7-0 run and padding their lead with a 12-0 run spanning the late first and early second quarters. They never led by less than double digits after that second scoring run, and a nearly two-to-one first half turnover advantage put Calgary in too big a hole to dig out of, despite outscoring the 'Birds 36-25 in the second half.
"I was really happy with our defence in the first half," said UBC head coach
Deb Huband. "Later on we tried to extend the bench and get more players some game experience, and we struggled defensively in the last quarter which is not the way you want to finish the game. But for big chunks of the game our defense was dominant and caused a lot of issues for them."
Huntley made her impact felt all over the court on Friday, picking up game-highs with 14 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks.
"She played tough and made a big difference for us against the zone defence," said Huband. "She is a big target down low and she demanded the ball, and she finished quite well tonight."
Lia St. Pierre chipped in 13 points and rookie
Kris Young had 12.
Tamara Jarrett and Alex Cole each had 12 points to lead Calgary, but like many Dinos on Friday, they missed some court time because of foul trouble. Four Dinos had three fouls at halftime, including Jarrett, Ashley Hill and Megan Lang, who are all starters. Hill remained on the floor most of the game but no other starter played more than 22 minutes for Calgary.
The T-Birds were shooting over 50 per cent as a team for most of the game, but the offence fell out of rhythm in the second half when turnovers began to take their toll with most of the starters getting a rest. The Dinos only turned the ball over seven times in the second half after 19 first half turnovers, while the T-Birds were the opposite, losing the ball 17 times in the second half to finish at just a +2 in the turnover battle.
The T-Birds move to 10-5 with the win and look to be in good position to pick up a playoff spot, while the 4-9 Dinos are seeing their postseason hopes slip away with every loss. They still have time to turn things around though, and they will get a chance to start tomorrow when they wrap up their series with the 'Birds at War Memorial Gym. Tip off is at 6 p.m.
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