VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds defeated their interior rivals, the UBCO Heat, 72-57 at War Memorial Gym to improve to 7-0 in U Sports play.
 
It was a tight first quarter between the two Canada West foes with the T-Birds holding on to a narrow lead for the majority of the quarter, before the Heat inched ahead 16-15 on a three-ball by Emily Kanester.
 
The 'Birds were the ones to heat up in the second quarter, as Shilpa Khanna opened the scoring with back-to-back threes to reclaim the lead at 22-18. Maddison Penn hit her own bucket from beyond the arc, Ali Norris nailed a three and Khanna closed out the quarter with her third triple to extend the lead to 39-24.
 
"It felt good," said Khanna. "It's always nice when we get inside-outside looks. Those are the kind of shots we like to get as a team…we were able to see each other and get things going. Once you get things going from the outside, it opens up the inside and vice-versa – so it felt like a team effort. It wasn't just me hitting my shot."
 

Heating up! ??????
Khanna hits her second 3 of the quarter putting @UBCWBBall up 22-18. #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/sdGOY4pxIc

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) December 3, 2016

UBC headed into the half up 47-27, and UBCO couldn't cut into the Thunderbird lead in the second half. As the final buzzer sounded, UBC extended its winning ways to seven straight games on the year.
 
The T-Birds carved up the paint all night – scoring 36 points from down low and racking up six blocks. Forward Kara Spotton finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and three steals, and Keylyn Filewich notched seven points and eight boards. Penn led the 'Birds with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Khanna contributed 17 points in the win.
 

Nice inside move by Kara Spotton has @UBCWBBall with a big lead over @UBCOHeat.#GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/O7wiGsehk2

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) December 3, 2016

 
With the final game of 2016 slated for Saturday night against the Heat, Khanna knows there's still work to be done.
 
"It'd be great to close out undefeated, but we really don't want to take anything for granted. They're a gritty team that comes out with a lot of intensity so we've got to make sure we match that – if not doing more. We need to play our game and execute our style."
 
UBC Head Coach Deb Huband agreed.
 
"We're going to have to put a good 40 minutes together. I think we can play better than what we showed tonight, and hopefully we'll save our best game of 2016 for tomorrow night."