VANCOUVER – The UBC women's basketball team used a late 10-2 run to squeeze past the Avila University Eagles 50-44 at the Biola University Holiday Classic on Wednesday night in California.
Brittany Townsend's layup with 4:39 left in the second half put Avila up by a score of 42-40, but the Thunderbirds, powered by six points from guard
Kristen Hughes (4th, North Vancouver), scored ten of the remaining 12 points in the game to take the victory.
UBC held Avila without a field goal in the final 3:13 of the contest.
Hughes finished the game with 15 points to lead all players, while
Zara Huntley (5th, Halifax, NS) and
Kris Young (2nd, North Vancouver, BC) both chipped in with nine points.
Forward
Leigh Stansfield (4th, Victoria, BC) grabbed ten rebounds and added seven points.
Townsend and Rebekah Capeder paced Avila with 12 points each.
UBC led 29-27 at the half after a closely fought opening 20 minutes.
The lead changed nine times during the first half and neither team held an advantage larger than four points.
A similar pattern played out in the second half as UBC's largest lead (six points) came with just seconds left in the game and ended up being the margin of victory.
The Thunderbirds shot 40.9 percent from the field but committed 29 turnovers.
But the staunch UBC defence held the Eagles to just 30.9 percent shooting.
The Thunderbirds improve to 11-3 (4-2 in Canada West play) on the season.
The team has a day off before playing its final game at the Biola University Holiday Classic on Dec. 30 against Vanguard University at 3:00pm.
