Edmonton, AB - The UBC women's basketball team defeated the University of Alberta Pandas 73-66 Saturday night in Edmonton, to earn a weekend split. With the victory, the Thunderbirds snapped the Pandas 24-game conference winning streak. UBC improves to 3-1 on the season, while Alberta suffers its first loss of the season to drop to 5-1.  

Two-time CIS All-Canadian Kris Young sparked UBC's offence in the fourth quarter to lead her team to victory. Trailing 59-55 with 6:42 left in the game, the Thunderbirds went on a 19-7 run to finish. Young scored 14 of the Thunderbirds final 19 points. In total she had 23 points and 15 rebounds. 

"Kris has an unwavering will to win," said UBC head coach Deb Huband. "She embraces her role as a leader on and off the court and will do her best for the sake of the team. The higher the stakes the tougher she plays."

UBC jumped out to an early 17-7 lead in the first half, before Alberta, just as they had on Friday night, went on a 23-6 run to take a 30-23 lead. However, UBC would claw back to cut the lead to three at the half, 37-34 Alberta.

In the second half, the game went back and forth, as the biggest gap between the two CIS Top 10 teams was only four points until UBC took control in the final minutes.

"It was another tough physical battle and I liked how we responded with such resilience and determination," said Huband. "We showed another level of grit and compete and learned more about ourselves this weekend. Our composure and poise under pressure was impressive."

Tonight marked Alberta's first regular season loss since November 8^th, 2013, a streak which saw them win 24 straight game.

A big key tonight was UBC's determination on the glass, especially on the offensive end. The Thunderbirds grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, seven by Young.

Harleen Sidhu had a strong performance as well scoring 20 points and adding eight rebounds. Cassandra Knievel chipped in with 10 points. 

For the Pandas, both Saskia Van Ginhoven and Renee Byrne put up double-digits on the scoreboard, with 18 and 10 points respectively.

The Thunderbirds will be back on the road next weekend, heading further East this time to Manitoba to face the University of Winnipeg. Friday's game will start at 4 p.m. P.S.T. and Saturday's will start at 3 p.m. P.S.T.