VANCOUVER - The Thunderbirds topped the Ottawa Gee Gees 51-43 in their first CIS pre-season action at War Memorial Gym.
UBC kept pace with the Gee Gees early on, but were down five at the half before storming back to take the victory.
T-Birds Head Coach
Deb Huband was happy her team came out firing in the second half.
"We found a lineup that really made a difference for us in the third quarter, so we rode them a little bit. That third quarter is what separated us from Ottawa and we were able to hold on and maintain that to the final buzzer."
Veteran forward
Kara Spotton was dominant down low – racking up a double- double with 15 points and 10 boards. Spotton noted a different style of play from the East division visitors.
"They're a little bit more physical, our west coast style is a little bit faster. We like to run…we do a lot of sets. With them it's a little bit more physical of a game – a lot more 1-on-1 so I think we handled it well."
The Gee Gees made it a two possession game with just over two minutes remaining, but it was too little too late.
New recruit
Maddison Penn made her presence known, putting up 14 in 25 minutes of play and nailing a three with 37 seconds left to put the game out of reach.
Despite the win, Spotton recognizes there's room to grow.
"People are figuring out their roles…I think we need to get some chemistry as a team. There are moments where we're pretty slow getting into plays and we turn it over quite a bit."
Coach Huband agrees, and is looking forward to further developing her squad over the next month.
"It wasn't pretty at times - this is a starting point for us and we look forward to building from this. We still have a lot of exhibition games ahead to help us develop and get ready for the start of the season in November."
Next up for the Thunderbirds is an exhibition tune-up with UFV on October 14
th.
