Need to Know
The UBC Thunderbirds women's basketball team (9-11, 6th in the Pioneer Division) will make the trip out to Abbotsford this weekend, as they take on the Fraser Valley Cascades (13-7, 3rd in Explorer Division) in a three-game play-in series for a spot in the Canada West playoff quarterfinals.
 
Games will run daily from Friday, February 26, to Sunday, February 28, with games on Friday and Saturday starting at 6:00 p.m. (PT) and the third game (if necessary) scheduled for a 5:00 p.m. (PT) start.
 
Last Week
The T-Birds closed out their regular season with their most complete performances of the campaign, winning 77-57 and 86-38 in a sweep of the Winnipeg Wesmen
 
By The Numbers
50 – T-Birds fifth-year guard Diana Lee (North Vancouver) was brilliant in her final weekend at War Memorial Gym, with the playmaker opening with a career-high 32 points in Friday's 77-57 win before going off for 18 in Saturday's 86-38 decision.
 
48– The 48-point margin of victory in last Saturday's contest was the highest put up by the Thunderbirds since the season-opener of the 2011-12 season, an 88-21 win over the Brandon Bobcats on November 2011.
 
The Matchup 
The 'Birds and Cascades haven't squared off against one another in a game outside of the pre-season since the 2013-14 campaign, when the two sides split a mid-season series in Abbotsford. The 'Birds took the first contest of the set 56-54 before the Cascades came back to win 71-43 on the series' second night.
 
As for the current edition of Fraser Valley, they are smack in the middle of the pack when it comes to production, scoring 67.9 points-per-game while allowing 60.4. Both of those marks are good for eighth in the 17-team Canada West.
 
However, the Cascades might feature the single player in the conference most capable of taking over a series, Kayli Sartori. The 6-foot-1 forward finished the campaign the top scorer in the Canada West over the regular season, notching 368 points in 20 games, an average of 18.5 per showing.
 
One caveat with Sartori's prodigious scoring is that she played 35.3 minutes-per-game for the Cascades, a full two minutes more than the next-highest player in the conference, Victoria's Jenna Krug. By comparison, Lee led UBC with an average of 31.6 minutes-per-game.
 
Coach's Take
"There is some familiarity on both sides, because most players on both teams grew up playing in B.C." said Thunderbirds head coach Deb Huband.
"However, we haven't played them in a while, so there's going to be quite a bit of studying on both sides. Their style of play is unique, and how they look to attack, in particular. Our practices and our work this week are geared solely towards learning, understanding their personel, style of play, and game plan, with the end goal of having consistently strong performances this weekend."