VICTORIA – The No. 4 UBC Thunderbirds women's basketball team recorded a 69-57 victory over the host Victoria Vikes at McKinnon Gymnasium on Friday night to finish off Canada West regular season play.
The Thunderbirds finish the campaign with a record of 15-3. With the loss, Victoria is eliminated from the Canada West playoff race after an 8-10 season.
UBC was too strong for the Vikes to solve in the fourth quarter as the Thunderbirds gave up just nine points, while all five starters scored to preserve the victory.
"To succeed in the playoffs, you have to play a full forty minutes and we didn't necessarily do that tonight," said UBC head coach
Deb Huband after the game. "But full credit to our team, every time Victoria made a push, we fought them off."
After a back and forth first quarter that featured five lead changes, UBC went ahead by 11 points midway through the second period on a jumper from
Alex Vieweg (5th, North Vancouver, BC) but Victoria closed to within three (35-32) by halftime.
The Thunderbirds opened the third on a 10-3 run, capped off by a
Kristen Hughes (4th, North Vancouver, BC) three-pointer at 5:45.
Six of those ten points came from
Kris Young (2nd, North Vancouver, BC).
But again, Victoria closed out the period strong to get back within five after three.
Huband also praised her starting five for their performance tonight, especially Hughes, who played at Victoria for the first time since transferring to UBC.
She ended the game with a game-high 19 points to go with nine rebounds, while Young recorded 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Zara Huntley (5th, Halifax, NS) also recorded a double-double, with 12 points and ten rebounds.
The Thunderbirds out-boarded the Vikes by a count of 43-31 and outshot the home team 42.6 percent to 33.8.
UBC, the Pacific Divison champions, will now begin preparations for the Canada West playoffs, which will open next weekend at War Memorial Gymnasium where the Thunderbirds will host the Alberta Pandas, the fourth place from the Prairie Division.
Alberta is also the team that has knocked the Thunderbirds out of the playoffs the last two seasons.
Game one between UBC and Alberta will take place on Thursday, Feb, 23 at 7:00 p.m.
The second game is on Saturday at 3:00 p.m., while a third game, if necessary, will be played on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
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