VANCOUVER – A spotty first quarter turned into an explosive second as the UBC Thunderbirds ran away from the UFV Cascades 84-62 on Friday night at War Memorial Gym. Down 17-13 after the opening quarter, the 'Birds outscored the Cascades 32-19 in the second and never trailed afterwards.
Kara Spotton was the high player for UBC with 25 points,
Shilpa Khanna was firing darts from three-point land (5-7) for 16 points, while Madison Penn chipped in 15 points to go along with 4 steals. All-Canadian Kayli Satori was the top scorer for UFV with 21 points.
"I though a lot of pieces were more refined than they were a couple weeks ago," said UBC Head Coach
Deb Huband. "It's nice to see as they've been working hard in practice. We executed well at both ends of the floor and had some nice passing plays and lots of assists."
Spotton looks well poised to take over a leadership role on the very youthful Thunderbirds squad. She was brilliant in her efficiency on the evening by hitting 10 of 13 field goal attempts and going 5 for 7 from the free-throw line. She also grabbed 7 rebounds.
"Her veteran status showed through today," said Huband of her fifth-year forward. "She was composed and made very good decisions."
The Thunderbirds will have a week to keep refining their game before heading to Toronto for the Ryerson Darcel Wright Memorial Classic.
