The University of British Columbia Athletics

VANCOUVER - Two wins last weekend secured the UBC Thunderbirds women's basketball a postseason berth in this year's Canada West playoffs. UBC won with some comfort in both matchups against the UNBC Timberwolves, and now have six games remaining to ensure the best seeding possible before the quarter-finals begin on February 28.

UBC head coach Deb Huband is just two wins shy of 400 overall in her distinguished career and could reach that milestone this weekend with a sweep. Huband, who has guided the Thunderbirds to three national championships, has 398 playoff, regular season and non-conference victories and just 210 losses. Earlier this season, her 19th at the helm of the UBC program, Huband recorded her 250th regular season victory, which also is tops amongst active coaches in the Canada West.

LIVE VIDEO STREAM
 
GAME TIMES
Jan. 31 - 5 p.m. PT - UBC at Lethbridge
Feb. 1 - 4 p.m. PT - UBC at Lethbridge

UBC (11-5) sit just one game back of the Fraser Valley Cascades and are level with Victoria for third place in the Pacific Division, who will be their final league opponents.
 
This weekend. they travel to Alberta to take on the Lethbridge Pronghorns and the Calgary Dinos. Victoria faces the same opponents this weekend but in reverse order.

Lethbridge, for the moment, has still got a mathematical chance of making the playoffs. If they were to win all six of their remaining games and Calgary were to lose all six of their games they could sneak through to grab the fourth spot in the Prairie Division. As unlikely as it seems, it is still possible but they are not helped by their current losing streak of four games. They can only take it one game at a time though and will be trying hard to upset UBC in front of their home crowd.
 
Kim Veldman is far and away this team's best player. The fourth-year forward leads the team in scoring (19.2 ppg) and rebounding (9.9 rpg), both of those numbers are in fact the third highest in the conference. Due to her high usage rate and her team's dependence upon her for scoring, she does turn the ball over at a high rate, almost five times a game. UBC average 10.9 steals a game, second in the conference, and will be looking to capitalize on those turnovers to score some easy fast-break buckets.
 
Lethbridge as a team rank dead last in both steals per game and blocks per game; if UBC can take good care of the ball and put up intelligent shots, they should scoring no problem against the Pronghorns.
 
On Saturday, the Thunderbirds face Calgary, who look likely to claim the fourth and final playoff spot in the Prairie Division. The Dinos are perhaps the most balanced team that UBC will play this year. They do not really excel in any one particular category, nor do they have any glaring weaknesses. Tamara Jarrett leads the team in scoring (13.9 ppg) but all five starters have had team-highs in scoring this season. Calgary are the fourth-best rebounding team in Canada West and yet have not one player in the top-10.
 
Everywhere you look it seems like a very collective unit that helps brings the Dinos their success. Even their bench plays a larger role than most teams, none of Calgary's starters average more than 30 minutes a game. In just about every statistical category, the sit within the top 10 and that is just where their record has them ranked, good for seventh in the conference.
 
UBC's Kris Young will once again be looking to lead her team to two wins this weekend. She has had team-highs in scoring in all six games in the new year and with 14 steals in two games against UNBC last weekend, has now moved into a tie for first in the conference with 3.8 a game.