VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds already have the Pacific Division under wraps, but they are looking to continue their recent dominance over their biggest rivals and knock them out of the Canada West playoff race.
UBC has won eight straight games against Victoria in a streak that dates back to Nov. 28, 2008.
The game will broadcast (with live statistics) on
CanadaWest TV.
GAME TIME
Fri., Feb. 17 - No. 4 UBC at Victoria (6:00 p.m. at McKinnon Gymnasium, Victoria)
No. 4 UBC Thunderbirds
2011-12 conference record: 14-3 (1st, Pacific Division)
Last Week: W 83-66 vs Victoria
Streak: 2 wins
After a brutal first quarter the T-Birds turned things around in a big way last week, outscoring the Vikes 51-24 in the second half en route to the win. The teams' shooting percentages per half were almost exact opposites, with Victoria outshooting UBC .586 to .333 in the first half, and UBC returning the favour .594 to .333 in the second.
A big reason for that turnaround was the T-Birds' effort on the glass, which was consistant all night. They out-rebounded Victoria 45-27 with 19 offensive rebounds, which earned them a big advantage in second-chance points.
Kris Young and
Zara Huntley led the fight on the boards, combining for almost two-thirds of the team's rebounds. Huntley had 17 points and 15 boards, while Young barely missed out on a triple double, racking up 14 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists.
Young has had a fantastic sophomore year in the CIS with 13.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.4 steals per game. She has been a major contributor in literally every aspect of the game for the entire season, and there's no reason to think that won't continue deep into the playoffs.
Huntley has also been solid all year but seems to be getting even better recently. If she is peaking, it couldn't come at a better time. She leads the league in blocked shots and averages 6.3 rebounds and a team-high 13.9 points per game. Her partner in the paint,
Leigh Stansfield, also seems to be getting better and better as the year goes on. She is a very good defender and appears to be gaining confidence offensively as well. She is up to 9.3 points per game now on .503 shooting.
Alex Vieweg is a player similar to Young in that she can do it all on a basketball court. She averages 13.1 points on a team-best .528 shooting percentage, also adding a team-high 2.5 steals and tying with Huntley for the team rebounding lead.
Victoria Vikes
2011-12 conference record: 8-9 (4th, Pacific Division)
Last Week: L 83-66 at UBC
Streak: 1 loss
The Vikes are guaranteed fourth in the Pacific Division, but there are only three playoff spots in the division not counting the wildcard. A win should earn them that wildcard, but a loss would give the wildcard spot to Winnipeg (9-11), the Prairie Division hopeful.
Deborah Yeboah leads the team with 15.5 points per game, and she was one of the few effective offensive threats against UBC last week. That was partly due to the massive foul trouble that many Vikes found themselves in, including Jessica Renfrew, Chelsea Mcmullen, Cassandra Goodis and Sarah Semeniuk, who are numbers two through five on the Vikes scoring list.
Renfrew, Mcmullen and Goodis all average about 10 points while Semeniuk contributes seven, so it's not hard to see why the Vikes collapsed so hard last week once the fouls started piling up.
Allison Mulock hit some big shots to keep her team in the game, but she only averages 4.5 points per game and can't be expected to be a primary scorer every night. That secondary group of scorers for the Vikes have to find a way to play defence with their feet against the T-Birds to keep themselves off the bench.
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