Prince George, BC - The UBC Thunderbirds will play three of their remaining four regular season games on the road, starting this weekend with a visit to the UNBC Timberwolves. Playoff spots are already locked up in the Pacific Division, but UBC needs to continue their four game winning streak if they want to keep hold of second place and home court advantage. Right now only two games separate the four playoff-bound teams. Tip-off at Northern Sport Centre in Prince George is set for 6 p.m. on Friday night and 5 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be streamed live at
www.canadawest.tv.
#6 UBC Thunderbirds (14-4, .778)
Last Week: W 70-56, W 79-40 vs. Mount Royal
UBC clinched a playoff last weekend in front of their home crowd with two victories over Mount Royal. On Friday night, the Thunderbirds' offence struggled at times, but they got a big boost from second-year forward
Adrienne Parkin (Vancouver, BC), who exploded for a career high and double-double 21 points 11 rebounds.
Leigh Stansfield (Victoria, BC),
Cassandra Knievel (Nanaimo, BC), and
Victoria Spangehl (White Rock, BC) also scored in double figures, adding 14, 11, and 10 points respectively. Mount Royal was able to hang around and was down by as little as two points early in the fourth, despite shooting only 27 percent from the floor. They dominated UBC on the glass and hauled down a whooping 21 offensive boards, gaining a big advantage in second chance points as well as bench points.
The Thunderbirds must've learned their lesson though, because when they came back the following night they out-rebounded the Cougars 51-28. Leading the game comfortably from start to finish, the Thunderbirds got scoring and rebounding production from every single player, with fifth-year
Leigh Stansfield tying teammate
Kris Young (North Vancouver, BC) for the game-high on her Senior Night. They had 17 points apiece, while Spangehl added a double-double effort of 11 points and 12 rebounds in just 18 minutes of action.
Spangehl has always been an effective rebounder for UBC throughout her four years here, and was leading the team in boards until a knee injury kept her sidelined for much of November and December. Her minutes had been limited until recently, and she's now getting her scoring touch back to go along with attacking the glass. With a healthy Spangehl in the lineup, the Thunderbirds playoff stretch looks to be an exciting one.
“The knee's coming back pretty well. I was kinda in the transition phase there for a bit. We didn't really know what was going on with the knee so it was a confusing time, but I'm feeling a lot better on the court now. It took a few games to really get me there and get into it but these past two weekends for me have been really positive.”
UNBC Timberwolves (6-12, .333)
Last Week: L 65-48, L 82-66 at Victoria
The Timberwolves' overall record may not be threatening, but they are 5-3 at home in Prince George and were not mathematically out of the playoffs until suffering two losses in Victoria. They are a decent offensive team, but struggle at the defensive end of the court, allowing a league-worst 74.7 points per game. Versatile fourth-year guard/forward Mercedes Van Koughnett (Prince George, BC) leads the team in points (13.3), rebounds (7.7), and assists (3.0) this season, and also shoots 80 percent from the line. Fellow fourth-year Jennifer Bruce (Langley, BC) frequently notches nightly team-highs as well and is averaging 11.3 points per game this year. The guard has been hot lately, averaging 17.3 points over the past three games. The Thunderbirds should also look out for forward Emily Kaehn (Hixon, BC). Another experienced fourth-year player, she is known to attack the glass and averages nearly 10 points a game while shooting close to 50 percent from the floor.
