VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds snapped a three-game losing skid by taking down the Alberta Pandas 71-58 Saturday night in Edmonton. They attacked against the best defensive team in Canada West basketball and led virtually the whole game.
BOX SCORE
The last meeting between these two teams came at the Panda's preseason HoopFest tournament, where the Thunderbirds prevailed in overtime.
When Alberta put the pressure on with a couple minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, all five starters made key free throws for UBC. Despite coming into the game shooting a league-worst 62 percent from the line, UBC was in rhythm tonight and made 21 of 26 attempts (80.8%). In fact, their shooting was efficient all around, as they finished at over 50 percent from the floor as well.
“It was a hard fought, character win after a disappointing night in Saskatchewan where we fell flat. The girls responded with pride, digging deep for energy and resolve. Our defensive effort was much improved and we were able to make scoring a lot tougher than last night's effort. I'm proud of how our team responded and how hard they competed tonight,” said UBC head coach
Deb Huband.
Kris Young (North Vancouver, BC) and
Leigh Stansfield (Victoria, BC) continued their outstanding play for the Thunderbirds. Young seemed to be able to get the job done in every facet of the game. She led all scorers with 25 points to go along with five assists, four rebounds, and four steals while shooting over 50% from the field and missing just one of her eight free throws.
Stansfield came one rebound short of a double-double, finishing with 19 points and nine rebounds, also shooting an efficient 8-14 from the floor.
Maggie Sundberg (Mansfield, CT) made it a three-pronged attack, draining both her shots from behind the arch and all four from the line. She finished the night with 12 points.
Kendra Asleson (Richmond, BC) had a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards for the Pandas. Sally Hillier (Surrey, BC) and Jessilyn Fairbanks (Edmonton, AB) added 12 and 11 points respectively.
Stansfield opened up the game by getting inside early on, making her first three shots and hauling down three boards in the first quarter. Young was just getting started when she hit back-to-back three-balls with under two minutes to go in the first half, and UBC left the court for half time with a 32-22 lead.
Sundberg hit her first of two three's to start off the third quarter. UBC went on a 10-0 run until the Panda's hit a three and sparked an 18-4 run of their own. The flow of the game kept getting interrupted due to technical difficulties with the shot clock, but by the end of the quarter the UBC lead had gone from 20 points to just seven. The Pandas' played with a tight man-to-man defence that had UBC forcing up last ditch efforts as the shot clock expired. UBC failed twice to get the ball across the half in the eight seconds allowed, resulting in two of several turnovers that kept the Panda's hanging around.
With her team struggling to close out the game and up by just four points, Young knocked the ball loose under the defensive basket, preventing a second opportunity for the Panda's. She then hit a clutch jumper at the other end to give UBC a 62-56 lead with 1:21 to go. It seemed to give a signal to both her teammates and her opponents that UBC was not going to give this win up.
With UBC now in a bonus situation,
Adrienne Parkin (Vancouver, BC) sunk her first free throw, and Young grabbed the miss on the second. She drew the foul and got herself to the line, also splitting the pair. UBC put the game out of Alberta's reach in the final minute when Sundberg and
Cassandra Knievel (Nanaimo, BC) combined to make six in a row from the line. Stansfield also split a pair with five seconds to go.
The victory moves UBC to a 5-3 record this season, while Alberta drops to 4-4. UBC will return to War Memorial Gym next weekend for their last home games of 2012. They'll face the Calgary Dinos at 6 p.m. on Friday, and the Lethbridge Pronghorns on Saturday at 5 p.m.
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