Vancouver, BC - The Canada West MVP was just that Saturday night as Kris Young scored the winning basket with 7.8 seconds remaining to help the UBC Thunderbirds to a come from behind 69-68 victory over the Saskatchewan Huskies and the 2015 Canada West Championship title.
Young scored 13 of her 21 points in the final frame to carry the Thunderbirds to their eighth conference championship in the program's history and first since 2012.
Trailing the majority of the night, the Thunderbirds went down 63-59 with 3:23 after Laura Dally hit a three pointer. Young would cut the lead to one, before Riley Humbert hit from beyond the arc to restore the Huskies four point lead with 1:36 left in the game, 66-62.
After Harleen Sidhu and Dally traded baskets, Adrienne Parkin nailed a three pointer with 17 seconds left to make it a one point game, 68-67.
On the ensuing inbounds play the Thunderbirds fouled Kelsey Trulsrud with 15 seconds left. She missed both free throws. Young grabbed the rebound and went coast to coast hitting a runner off the glass and in to put UBC in front 69-68 with 7.8 seconds remaining.
Saskatchewan did not have a timeout left and was forced to play on Dally carried the ball the length of the floor and got it down low to Dalyce Emmerson, but she could not get a shot off in time and UBC prevailed 69-68.
"I just got the ball off the rebound and I know how much time was left so I just went in, and I saw Harleen [Sidhu] moving outside so I just moved in and scored," said Kris Young. "Adrienne's three was the really big shot this game. We wouldn't been in the game if it wasn't for Adrienne's big clutch three."
Young finished with 21 points, eight rebound, six assists, three blocks and three steals playing the entire 40 minutes.
"We had a bad start, you go through these kinds of periods of the game but you have to keep believing at some point you will get it going," said UBC head coach Deb Huband. "We really picked it up in the second half. I think when we play defence the way we can, we make it tough on our opponents, and I think we saw that in the second half."
Saskatchewan got off to a hot start, jumping out to a 15-4 lead. Trulsrud led the way early on with four points. UBC managed to cut the deficit to seven points after 10 minutes of play thanks to some strong play from Harleen Sidhu who chipped in with six points in the opening quarter. The Huskies led 20-13 after the first quarter.
he Huskies continued to add to their lead in the second quarter thanks in large part to some excellent outside shooting. Saskatchewan hit four three pointers in the quarter, two from Dally, one from Riley Humbert and one from Desare Hogberg to lead 41-30 at the half.
In the second half the lead got to as many as 13 points for the Huskies, however UBC would slowly chip away. In fact they went on a 17-3 run to take their first lead of the game with 2:14 left in the third quarter as Harleen Sidhu hit the go ahead basket. That lead wouldn't last as the Huskies restored order and led by two after three quarters of play, 49-47.
In the fourth quarter the Huskies once again extended the lead to as many as six points. Emmerson hit and hoop and a harm and Trulsrud scored on back to back lay ups to put the visitors in front 55-49 with 8:06 remaining in the fourth quarter. That is when Young went to work, scoring 10 of UBC's next 12 points to make it one point game 63-62 for Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan finished the night shooting 42.6% from the field and 9-of-19 from beyond the arc. UBC shot 45.3% from the field, but once again it was it's stifling defence in the second half that made the difference limiting the Huskies to just 27 points in the final two quarters after giving up 41 in the first half. The Thunderbirds forced 15 turnovers compared to just six of their own.
"I never had a doubt that we wouldn't at least get a good shot of winning it," said Diana Lee. "Kris [Young] obviously came up big for us. She played like a fifth year and she played like an MVP."
"I can't even put to words how we feel right now, we are on cloud nine," said Harleen Sidhu. "This was our goal from the beginning of the season, and to be able to accomplish it is an unbelievable feeling."
Dally led the Huskies with 21 points including four three pointers. Emmerson finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds, while Trulsrud chipped in with 15 points and 12 boards.
Sidhu scored 18 points for the Thunderbirds, while Diana Lee also hit double digits, scoring 10 points on the night.
Both teams will now make the trip to the CIS Final 8 in Quebec City which begins Thursday, March 12. The complete schedule and seedings will be released Monday.
"We got to see what the draw is, get our scouts ready, the girls need some rest and recovery," said Huband. "We will head to Quebec City on Monday and adjust to the weather as quickly as possible."
