The UBC Thunderbirds are on the road for a second straight week looking to extend their winning streak to eight straight games when they visit the Brandon University Bobcats for back to back meetings this weekend.
 
It all gets started with a unique and challenging start time for the 'Birds body clock on Friday, January 18 with a 9:30 a.m. tipoff (11:30 a.m. CT) followed by a 3:00 p.m. start on Saturday, January 19 at the Healthy Living Centre.
 
It will be the first regular season meeting between the squads since meeting two years ago at UBC where the T-Birds completed the home sweep with scores of 80-53 and 73-66.

500 career all-time wins for @DebHuband! #legend pic.twitter.com/qmF3aED6Wt

— UBC Women's Bball (@UBCWBBall) January 13, 2019

 

Last Action
 

Last weekend in Langley the T-Birds improved to 10-4 on the season thanks to sweeping both contests against the Trinity Western Spartans with victories of 76-64 followed by a defensive gem that resulted in a 70-48 win. The victory last Saturday night against TWU was especially sweet for longtime UBC coach Deb Huband who achieved a significant and rare milestone in collecting her 500^th career coaching victory.

The Bobcats fell to 2-13 after dropping back to back efforts against the University of Alberta Pandas last weekend by scores of 74-45 and 82-63. 

Players to Watch

 
Jessica Hanson – (#11, G) The fourth-year guard combined for 26 points, six rebounds and seven assists in last weekend's sweep of the Spartans, including a game high five assists on Saturday night. Hanson leads the team with an average of 4.7 assists per game while sitting third in team scoring averaging 11.1 points per game.
 
Keylyn Filewich – (#9, F) The third-year forward combined for 33 points and 27 rebounds in recording back to back double doubles last weekend. The Manitoba native leads the Canada West with a 59.6 field goal percentage and sits third in the conference averaging 10.4 rebounds per game.


 

Coach's Take

 
"I think our defence is one of the areas that has shown the biggest improvement," said UBC head coach Deb Huband. "That was very obvious on the Saturday night with the number of turnovers that we created and the steals (15) that we managed and how we were able to limit TWU to 48 points.
 
Huband also previewed what she expects with some early start times in Brandon.
 
"I think Brandon is one of the most challenging trips with the time it takes to get there and the time change but it's part of the Canada West schedule," added Huband. "So, we can control what we can and try to get ourselves mentally prepared for whatever the situation and it's a good challenge for this part of the season and for bigger challenges we hope to encounter down the road."