VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds, the second-ranked team in Canada, look to clinch first place in the Canada West standings as the regular season comes to a close this weekend with the blue and gold hosting the Manitoba Bisons at War Memorial Gym.

Friday's 6 p.m. game will open Courtside UBC 2015, a celebration which should feature one of the biggest crowds of the season. After the regular season finale, which will begin on Saturday at 5 p.m., three graduating players will be honoured: Lauren Seabrook (North Vancouver), Harleen Sidhu (Surrey) and Kris Young (North Vancouver), one of the greatest players to ever don the Thunderbirds jersey.

Young is currently third all-time in overall scoring for UBC behind Erica McGuinness and Kelsey Blair, but is the school's leader in regular season scoring with 1515 points heading into this weekend. She was also the Canada West Most Valuable Player for the 2012-13 season, a year after helping her team to the CIS championship final.

Sidhu was a second-team Canada West All-Star last season, which was her first with UBC. Seabrook has been a valuable contributor off the bench since joining the T-Birds two years ago at the same time as Sidhu. She will finish her university career this season, despite breaking her back in car accident in the summer of 2011.

A sweep of Manitoba (1-17) this weekend will guarantee the T-Birds first place in the league as well as the right to host the Canada West Final Four tournament should the team reach that far in the playoffs.

At 15-3, UBC is currently tied with Saskatchewan atop the conference but the Thunderbirds, who are on a 10-game winning streak, own the tiebreaker over the Huskies.  

Young has lead the way for her team, averaging 17.9 points a game, which is good for fourth in the entire Canada West. Her average of 6.9 rebounds per outing is tied for first on the roster with Sidhu; both are in the top 15 in the league.

The Thunderbirds allow the fewest turnovers per game (13.6) and sixth in points per game (71.2) while the Bisons are last in league scoring with an average of 54.5 points. 

Manitoba guard Robyn Eyer is the only player on her team in double digits in scoring with 12.2 points per game and she also leads in minutes played (519). The Bisons haven't been in action for nearly two weeks after taking a bye last weekend, and are on an eight-game losing streak.