VANCOUVER - With eight minutes to play, the UBC Thunderbirds were down 14 points to Trinity Western on Saturday, but showed why they are the third-ranked team in the CIS with stifling full court pressure and an impressive scoring run to earn a 66-61 comeback victory at War Memorial Gym.
Leigh Stansfield hit the game-tying and go-ahead free throws with just over a minute left, and
Alex Vieweg helped seal it with a key offensive rebound after the Spartans' next possession, and two good free throws of her own to put UBC up three with 50 seconds left.
Vieweg finished with 20 points, nine of which came in the fourth. She also had three steals and a game-high 10 rebounds.
"Alex generated a lot of points off her defence," said UBC head coach
Deb Huband. "We were able to get some stops and run some transition, and Alex is a very good quick forward in transition."
After an even first quarter, the T-Birds struggled mightily in the second and third, putting themselves in a 49-37 hole to start the fourth. The Spartans had increased the lead to 54-40 with eight minutes remaining, when the T-Birds' full court pressure defence started to kick in.
Led by Vieweg,
Kris Young and
Kristen Hughes, the T-Birds harassed the Spartans into eight fourth quarter turnovers, and the comeback was on.
The 'Birds still trailed by eight with three minutes remaining, but Young pulled off a crucial three-point play and followed it up with a steal, feeding Stansfield to make it a 60-57 game.
After a stop on the defensive end, Hughes' layup made it a one point game, setting up Stansfield's go-ahead free throws and UBC's improbable comeback win. UBC finished the game on a 16-3 run.
"Trinity had a hard time getting the ball out of their own end for a stretch," said Huband, commenting on her team's successful full court defence in the fourth quarter. "We had struggled scoring all night and didn't seem able to put the ball in the net, but our pressure defence got us some really easy looks there."
Young finished with a game-high 24 points to go with three steals and two blocked shots.
"Kris was the one that was finding ways to score for us when we were stagnant and others were spectators earlier on," said Huband, noting that her team's scoring troubles early in the game weren't due to poor shooting, but poor execution and movement.
"It was a good opportunity for us to face that adversity and find a way to win. Until the fourth, I don't think we could have put a worse string of quarters together, but to top it off with a really good quarter and have it be enough for us to win is a testament to the pressure we were able to put on," Huband added.
Tiffany Olsen led the Spartans with 14 points. Laurelle Weigl had 13 points, including a pair of baskets in the fourth that looked like rally-killers at the time. She also led a strong rebounding effort by the visitors with eight boards.
The Spartans out-rebounded UBC 37-28, including 13 offensive boards that led to a 12-2 advantage in second chance points.
The Spartans drop to 2-4 on the year with the loss, and will look to get back in the win column on the road against Alberta and Saskatchewan next weekend.
The T-Birds improve to 3-1 on the year, and have their own Alberta road trip planned next weekend, as they take on Lethbridge and Calgary to wrap up the first half schedule
Next home action for UBC will be after the holiday break on January 6 and 7 against Alberta and Saskatchewan.
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