VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds settled for a split in their regular season finale series with the Victoria Vikes, losing on the road 64-56 on Saturday for a second-place finish in the Pacific Division standings.
BOX SCORE
Down as may as 14 points in the second half, the T-Birds were closing in on the Vikes late in the fourth, using an 11-0 run to cut the lead to 49-46 midway through the quarter. Both defences picked things up late in the quarter and offence was hard to come by, but the 'Birds were still hanging around with less than three minutes left, down 56-52. But Chelsea McMullen hit two key jumpers for the Vikes in the final two minutes to make it an eight-point lead and extinguish the comeback hopes.
The 'Birds already had home court locked up for round one of playoffs heading into Saturday night, but the Vikes interrupted their seven-game winning streak with active team defence that led to a 23-11 advantage in the turnover battle. The 'Birds coughed it up eight times in the opening quarter, helping Victoria start the game on a 12-2 run. UBC got as close as three points off the lead, but was unable to fully recover from that sloppy start.
Kris Young followed up a 22-point performance on Friday with another 21 points on 10-19 shooting, and
Leigh Stansfield added 16. UBC shot 46 per cent from the field but was just 2-13 from three point range.
They held the Vikes to only 43 per cent shooting and only one made three pointer, in addition to playing them to a draw in the rebounding battle. But the 14 extra field goal attempts Victoria got by way of turnovers were the difference between the teams on Saturday.
The Vikes were led by their seniors Debbie Yeboah and McMullen, who were playing their final CIS games on home court. Yeboah had a season-high 29 points on efficient 14-26 shooting, adding four steals and four assists. McMullen, in addition to her key jumpers to ice the game, finished with 20 points, four rebounds and two assists.
UBC finishes the regular season one game behind first-place Fraser Valley at 17-5. That sets them up with a home playoff series for round one against the Alberta Pandas next week. The winner of that best-of-three series moves on to the Canada West Final Four, hosted by the surviving team with the best regular season record.
The T-Birds host Alberta on Friday, February 22 and Saturday, February 23 at 6 p.m. If the series is tied, game three will go on Sunday at 2 p.m.
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