The University of British Columbia Athletics

VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds beat the Trinity Western Spartans 65-50 on Saturday night at War Memorial Gym to sweep the two-game weekend series, improving to 3-1 to start the season.

BOX SCORE


The win also marked a personal milestone for UBC head coach Deb Huband, who now has 250 Canada West regular season wins to her credit. She is in her 19th season in charge of the Thunderbirds.
 
The start of the game was the polar opposite from the start of Friday's contest, when the teams combined for 51 first-quarter points. This time they racked up just 23 in a 15-8 first quarter for UBC, but the game ended much like Friday's, with the T-Birds smothering the Spartans defensively to grind out a double-digit win.
 
"It was a strong step forward for our young team," said Huband. "For our execution offensively and defensively, and our compete level, it was a great step forward, so I'm really happy with where we're headed right now."
 
UBC outshot Trinity Western 44 percent to 32 percent from the field, but unlike Friday night when Harleen Sidhu's 31-point outburst allowed the T-Birds to control the game with high-percentage shots in the paint, the home side relied on a much more balanced attack on Saturday, getting contributions from multiple players and multiple spots on the floor.
 
Kris Young led the team with 16 points, with Sidhu, Cassandra Knievel and Maggie Sundberg all scoring in double figures as well. And the 'Birds scored just 30 points in the paint compared with 58 on Friday.
 
"You want your inside game to compliment your outside game, and we had some nice threes tonight," said Huband. "The strongest teams always have a number of threats on the floor at the same time, and we had signs of that tonight."
 
Holly Strom turned in a second straight double double for the Spartans with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Kristen Ford had a great stretch of play late off the bench, particularly on the offensive glass, where she grabbed eight of her 10 rebounds.
 
The one negative for UBC was the turnover battle, which they lost by a -6 margin, coughing it up 22 times. Trinity Western outscored UBC 11-0 on the fastbreak.
 
Turnovers have been a bit of a thorn for UBC so far, as they average a -5 margin in that category through four conference games. But with so much roster reshuffling due to graduations, injuries and new players, Huband knows some growing pains are an inevitable part of the process, and she's pleased with the progress of her group so far.
 
"We're young and we have a lot of new pieces, and people stepping into new or expanded roles, so it's a work in progress," Huband said. "Every week in practice we're trying to get better, and I think we did that this week and saw the results this weekend. We have a long way to go to be playing our best basketball, but the difference between this weekend and last weekend is significant."
 
The Spartans fall to 1-3 on the season, and will look to regroup at home next weekend when they host UNBC for two games.
 
The T-Birds are 3-1 after their third straight win. They will try to keep things rolling next weekend in Kamloops when they take on the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.
 
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