With files from University of Victoria sports information
VICTORIA -
Alex Vieweg continued her hot play with another big night in Victoria on Friday, leading the UBC Thunderbirds to a 76-59 win against the Victoria Vikes in front of a full house at McKinnon Gymnasium on Shoot for the Cure night.
A UBC run early in the third quarter proved to be the difference. Jane Anholt's back-to-back baskets spurred a 6-0 Vikes run to open the third quarter, but the Thunderbirds responded with a 13-4 run of their own - including seven unanswered points in 28 seconds - to build a double-digit lead.
All five T-Bird starters made big contributions to the effort. Vieweg,
Lia St. Pierre,
Zara Huntley and
Devan Lisson all cracked double digits in scoring. Vieweg set the pace with 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting, and she grabbed seven rebounds, seven steals and six assists, setting her up for another solid weekend after she posted two double-doubles in UBC's previous series against Thompson Rivers.
"Alex contributed in a lot of ways," said UBC head coach
Deb Huband. "She was a playmaker with her assists, and defensively she created some steals and opportunites for us to run in transition. It was another outstanding performance for her and she's been a very consistent player for us over the last few weekends."
Kris Young, the fifth T-Bird starter, had five assists and two blocks to go with her seven points. The 'Birds picked up the win with just four points coming from their bench.
Anholt led the Vikes with 13 points, and Sarah Semeniuk chipped in 10.
UBC jumped out to an early 16-4 lead with great pressure, capitalizing on Vikes backcourt turnovers. The Thunderbirds led 25-11 after the first quarter, enjoying a lead as big as 17.
The Vikes outscored the Thunderbirds 21-15 in the second quarter to make the scoreline respectable heading into halftime, but UBC's early third quarter run eliminated the home side's momentum. The Vikes simply couldn't match UBC's efficiency on offence, as both sides had 20 turnovers, 60 field goal attempts and similar rebounding numbers, but UBC shot over 53 per cent from the field, while Victoria was held to 40 per cent.
"When we were able to guard the ball with success it allowed us to generate offence off our defence, and we had some very nice transition scores with strong court vision and decision making on display," said Huband.
UBC improves to 16-7 and will finish in fifth place in the conference regardless of the result on Saturday night in their rematch with the Vikes. That sets them up for a trip to Edmonton to take on Alberta in their best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series, which will run Feb. 25-27. The Vikes fall to 15-8 and will finish in sixth place, matching them up against Regina in their quarterfinal series.
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