Need to Know

The UBC Thunderbirds women's basketball team (9-11, 6th in the Pioneer Division, 2-0 in playoffs) will hit the heartland this weekend, as they're set to take on the Saskatchewan Huskies (18-2, 1st in Pioneer Division) in a best-of-three Canada West playoff quarter-final series.
 
Games will run daily from Friday, March 4 to Sunday, March 6, with all games set to begin at 4:15 p.m. (PT).
 

Last Week

The 'Birds swept the Fraser Valley Cascades in a play-in series to earn the right to play in the quarters. The 'Birds will try to ride momentum from 62-48 and 84-78 wins over the Cascades into Saskatchewan this weekend.
 

By The Numbers

9.0 – Fifth-year senior Adrienne Parkin sits fifth in Canada West in playoff rebounding after the series with Fraser Valley, averaging 9.0 in the T-Birds' first two games. Parkin is also third in the conference in steals, with 2.0 per contest.
 
73.0 – The 'Birds put up an average of 73.0 points-per-game in the series with the Cascades, a mark that was significantly higher than their 67.3 point regular season average.
 

The Matchup 

If the regular season is any indication, the 'Birds are going to be in tough against the top-ranked Huskies. The 'Birds were one of many Saskatchewan victims over the course of the season, falling twice, 69-49 and 68-46, to the Arctic Dogs back in November.
 
Behind senior guard Laura Dally's 17.2 points-per-game, the Huskies feature three other playsers who averaged double- digit scoring. With five players averaging at least 10 points per regular season contest, Saskatchewan boasts as deep an offense as there is in the conference – the Huskies led Canada West in points, scoring 79.5 per contest.
 
 To give an idea of the Huskies' level of dominance, they lost their two games by a combined six points. On the other hand, they won their 18 games by an aggregate margin of 450 points.
 

Coach's Take

"Honestly, we're looking forward to it," said UBC head coach Deb Huband of playing the Huskies. "We played them at the beginning of the year, so seeing how we do now will be like a benchmark for our progress. We know that they are the heavy favourites – top team in the conference, top two in the country, and we're playing them on the road, so we're the underdogs and have nothing to lose. Our season is on the line in every game from now on, so there's no reason to go out and hold anything back – we have to leave everything out on that floor."