VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds dropped game one of their best-of-three playoff series with the Alberta Pandas on Thursday, suffering through spotty free throw shooting and a career night from Alberta's Meghan Wickstrom in a 66-62 loss at War Memorial Gym.
BOX SCORE
The T-Birds were quickly down six in the fourth quarter after the Pandas completed a 12-0 run spanning the late third and early fourth, but UBC charged right back at the visitors with a 7-2 burst to retake the lead on a
Maggie Sundberg three with 4:41 remaining.
Wickstrom hit a three in response to give the lead back to Alberta, and the Pandas led 65-60 with just over a minute left when the 'Birds missed a big chance at the free throw line, going 0-2 to stay behind by five with time running out. Alberta stood tall defensively in the final minute, guarding the paint well with their six-footer trio of Saskia Van Ginhoven, Anneka Bakker and Kendra Asleson.
“It was a game of runs. We'd go ahead and they would catch up, and we go up again and they catch up again, then they go up a bit,” said UBC coach
Deb Huband, whose side held multiple leads in the second half before ultimately coming up on the wrong side of one of those runs.
“There were just some key times when we just didn't execute. We didn't communicate, and we took some possessions away from ourselves,” Huband added.
UBC lost the turnover battle 16-13, and struggled to finish around the basket at times, particularly in the second half, when they shot just 33 per cent from the floor.
But the real shooting woes for the 'Birds were at the free throw line. UBC was hit just five of 14 free throw attempts in the game, while the Pandas converted 14-20.
The other major thorn in UBC's side was third-year shooting guard Wickstrom. She proved over the course of the regular season that she can sink a three-pointer, finishing second in the conference in field goal percentage behind the arc at .462. But she's typically not a primary scoring option for the Pandas, averaging 5.8 points in 22 minutes of action for the season.
That wasn't the case on Friday night though, as the third-year guard poured in a game-high 19 points while playing almost the entire game, adding five rebounds and two key steals as well.
“Wickstrom had a great game for them,” said Huband. “She did what she did well, and we just kept losing her and she'd hit those threes. I think she opened it up a bit for them.”
Kris Young led UBC with 19 points, adding five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Victoria Spangehl had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Leigh Stansfield had 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.
The loss puts UBC's backs against the wall, as the 'Birds need to win two straight to take the series and keep their season alive. The winner of the series advances to the Canada West Final Four, where as many as two Canada West berths to the CIS tournament will be up for grabs, in addition to tourney host Regina's automatic spot.
UBC and Alberta play game two on Saturday night at 6 p.m. Game three, if necessary, goes on Sunday at 2 p.m. All games are at War Memorial Gym.
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