CALGARY – The second-seeded UBC Thunderbirds advanced to the semi-finals of the CIS women's basketball Final 8 with a comprehensive 65-43 victory over the RSEQ champions, the McGill Martlets, in the first round of the national championships, hosted by Calgary.
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“I thought the difference was on the defensive end, particularly in the third quarter, really limiting their scoring,” said UBC head coach
Deb Huband. “It allowed us to really make a big push and get a strong scoring advantage. But all year, we've tried to make the difference defensively and I think we did a real good job across the board defensively today.”
UBC held McGill to just 18.3 percent shooting from the field.
Before the big third quarter performance, the Thunderbirds were able to distance themselves from the Martlets by ending the first half on a 12-2 run to go up 35-21 at the break.
A Natalie Larocque three-point shot got McGill to within four points of UBC at 6:42 of the second quarter.
But
Leigh Stansfield, on an assist from
Kris Young, replied with a lay up that sparked the big UBC run that finished with five straight points from
Zara Huntley. With 1:28 left in the half,
Kris Young drove the lane and found Huntley with an inside pass. She converted on the lay up and got fouled. Huntley scored on the free throw to make it 33-21 and then scored again on a put back after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Huntley ended the game with a double-double, scoring a game-high 18 points while grabbing 11 rebounds.
Stansfield chipped in with 13 points and seven boards. Young led UBC with 12 rebounds and also dished out eight assists to go with her seven points.
UBC outscored McGill 32-8 in the paint and 24-10 on second chance points. The T-Birds also out-rebounded the Martlets 59-39.
“We had a huge advantage on the boards, especially on the offensive boards,” said Huband. “I think the girls went at it hard and made a lot happen and we got rewarded with second chance points. I think our posts played together with some good vision today. Lots of nice post-to-post passes for some easy scores.”
The Thunderbirds continued to build their lead after the break, winning the third quarter 15-6 to push their advantage to 23 points going into the final period.
That lead would balloon to 28 in the fourth as UBC's bench players found some quality minutes.
But Huband believes there is room for improvement after her team shot 37.1 percent today.
“Defensively, we were pretty strong but in the rest of our game, I think there was a little rust that we needed to dust off,” said Huband of the two week break between UBC's Canada West championship win and today's game against McGill. “Hopefully, there's lots of improvement with our passing, our decision making, our ball handling and offensive execution. But defensively, that's going to be key. If you can get consecutive stops and put some pressure on your opponents and make them feel uncomfortable, then good things can happen.”
McGill did not have a single player in double digits. Anneth Him-Lazarenko and Francoise Charest led the Martlets with seven points each.
UBC will play the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between Saskatchewan and Ottawa on Sunday at 4 p.m. Pacific.
The game will be broadcast live on Shaw TV, CiTR 101.9 FM, NBA TV Canada and the Sports Streaming Network online.
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