VANCOUVER – With six games remaining in the regular season, the Thunderbirds return home to War Memorial Gym this weekend on their quest to lock up a playoff spot. They'll be up against the Mount Royal Cougars on back-to-back nights, with Saturday's game falling on UBC Basketball Senior Night. UBC's lone graduating female player, center
Leigh Stansfield (Victoria, BC), will be honoured post-game.
It comes at a fitting time as Stansfield is having by far the best year of her career and just led the Thunderbirds with two 18-point performances in last weekend's victories over UBC Okanagan. This season, she and third-year guard
Kris Young (North Vancouver, BC) combine to score an average of 32 of their team's 68.5 points per night. With Stansfield's inside presence and Young's all-round ability, they are a dynamic duo that creates plenty of opportunities for UBC's offensive sets. They're also remarkably consistent, both ranking in the Canada West top 10 in field goal percentage, with Stansfield at 54.3 percent and Young at 48.1.
But last weekend it was rookie
Jaime Hills (North Vancouver, BC) who had the hottest hand. She had a breakout game on Friday night with 17 points and made all seven of her shots from beyond the arc over the weekend. It will be interesting to see if head coach
Deb Huband rewards her emerging young shooter with extra minutes this weekend, and how Hills reacts.
The Thunderbirds come into this weekend's games with a much better record and as vastly superior shooters. They're maintaining a collective 42.4 percent from the floor this season compared to a weak 33.5 percent for the Cougars. However, the past two weekends we have seen the T-Birds shoot the ball really well on Friday night and then be under 30 percent on the Saturday. They also committed too many fouls against UBCO and will need to box out better and play cleaner defence, especially since Mount Royal does a great job crashing the offensive glass and looks to have a bit of a height advantage.
The Cougars were beaten on the road by Trinity Western twice last weekend and are now a long shot to make the playoffs. They came into the weekend set with a 5-9 record compared to TWU's 3-11, and losing to teams below you is never a good thing when you're in the playoff hunt. Fifth-year guard Emily Larson (Calgary, AB) played well in those losing efforts, producing team-highs of 23 and 17 points. She and fellow guard Hilary Annich (St. Albert, AB) are each averaging 11.3 points per game this season to lead the Cougars.
UBC can't afford to let up their intensity this weekend as their other remaining games will be against the very two teams trying to overtake them, the UNBC Timberwolves and the UVIC Vikes. Don't miss the action! Tip-off at War Memorial Gym is set for 6 p.m. Friday night, and 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Tickets for UBC Thunderbirds home games are $10 for adults, $5 for youth/seniors/UBC staff/visiting students, and just $2 for UBC students and UNA members. Kids under 6 get in for free! Alternatively, live stats and video can be found at
www.canadawest.tv.
#6 UBC Thunderbirds (12-4, .750)
Last Week: W 84-54 and W 62-55 at UBCO
Mount Royal Cougars (5-11, .312)
Last Week: L 86-76 (OT) and L 73-61 at TWU
