VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds pulled off another close victory over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack Saturday night at War Memorial Gym. Thanks to some key defensive stops in the final minute and a tremendous effort from third-year guard
Kris Young (North Vancouver, BC), the Thunderbirds held on for a 72-70 victory and remain undefeated at 4-0 this season.
BOX SCORE
Young led the Thunderbirds in all the major statistical categories, getting the job done with 22 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists. Veteran center
Leigh Stansfield (Victoria, BC) added 17 points and seven rebounds, while rookie point guard
Maggie Sundberg (Mansfield, CT) provided a spark off the bench with nine points and three assists.
“Maggie brought a lot of energy. When she stepped on the floor our transition game seemed to work a little bit better. You could see her desire and passion to try and help us get going. That was one of her better games in a while,” said UBC head coach
Deb Huband.
For the WolfPack, dominant individual performances from four key players wasn't enough to earn the team a victory tonight. Diane Schuetze (Vernon, BC), Jen Ju (Vancouver, BC), Jorri Duxbury (Salmon Arm, BC), and Taiysa Worsfold (Kamloops, BC) combined to score all but four their teams points. Schuetze lead the way with another double-double, scoring 19 points and grabbing 15 boards while shooting 7-9 from the field. Ju continued to burn the Thunderbirds' defence with her relentless pace and sharp shooting. The T-Birds' never got a break from her as the fifth-year guard never sat down.
After a strong finish Friday night, the Thunderbirds got off to a slow start tonight, shooting just 27.8% from the floor in the first and falling to a 20-12 deficit. They turned things around in the second with impressive ball movement and inside looks. They took over the game and went on a 24-13 run in the quarter to head off at halftime with a 36-33 lead.
In the third, Worsfold started to light things up for the WolfPack, scoring seven of her 14 points in the quarter. But the Thunderbirds kept attacking the basket and got their opponents into foul trouble. This kept them in the game with seven points coming from the charity strike in 12 attempts. They escaped with a slim one point lead heading into the final ten minutes.
Duxbury was on fire in the fourth. She tied the game with three minutes remaining, and then got the steal at the other end and made an open layup to put the WolfPack ahead. She had been shooting just 2-9 through the first three quarters, but found her rhythm and hit another mid-range jumper with 1:13 to go.
With the shot clock expiring, Sundberg hit a clutch jumper to pull the Thunderbirds back within two, prompting a WolfPack timeout. Up until this point, Huband had been disappointed with her team's defence, but they came up with a couple big stops when it mattered most.
“We had to come up really big with our defence in the last two possessions. Our defence had let us down, we started to take the lead and then we just gave them some really easy scores down the stretch. We had a timeout and said now we're gonna have to give ourselves a chance based on our defence and we came up really big,” said Huband.
Following a WolfPack turnover, Young hit a fadeaway jumper to tie the game with 13.9 seconds left. The Thunderbirds came back out of the ensuing timeout and Stansfield was able to deflect the ball away underneath the basket. She ran the floor and was wide open for an easy layup on the fast break, making the winning basket for the Thunderbirds.
Huband was pleased to escape with the win but was disappointed in her team's poor defence. The Thunderbirds allowed the WolfPack to shoot 50% from the field, and only answered with 39.4% themselves.
“It's great to the win but it was a really ugly game. I was hoping that after last night we'd be able to get a little bit closer to where we're going, but I think we just really struggled on the defensive end. We need to improve our defence, we can't give up 70 points a game,” she said.
In the end, it was second-chance points that made the difference for UBC. They outscored the WolfPack 20-9 in that category. This was made possible by 18 offensive rebounds, seven of which were from Young.
“Kris is an all-star calibre player and she's only in her third year but she carries a big load for us. She's an all around player and she's capable of stepping up when the team needs her to,” said Huband of her emerging leader. “(Kris) didn't get a lot of help from those around her today. We didn't execute offensively with a purpose, so we didn't generate very much. Kris generated a lot for us thankfully. Seven offensive boards makes a huge difference getting possessions back. As a guard that's a tremendous effort and obviously those are key to helping us get second chance points,” she added.
The Thunderbirds will be back at home next week to take on the Fraser Valley Cascades. Tip-off will be at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16th and 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17th at War Memorial Gym. The WolfPack will head to Calgary for two games against Mount Royal.
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