VANCOUVER – The (2-2) UBC Thunderbirds are set to hit the road to open week three of the Canada West regular season visiting the (1-3) UNBC Timberwolves for back-to-back games this weekend in Prince George. Game one is scheduled for Friday, November 15 at 6:00 p.m. while the rematch goes the following night on Saturday, November 16 with a 5:00 p.m. tip off from the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre.
The T-Birds and T-Wolves last met nearly 10 months ago in late January of this year which brought about a tale of two drastically different outings for the hosts. UBC opened with a 77-60 setback before bouncing back for a 93-79 Saturday evening victory.
Last Action
The 'Birds are coming off a less than ideal home opening weekend where they dropped back-to-back decisions of 87-59 and 76-59 to the U SPORTS No. 4 ranked Calgary Dinos (2-0).
Keylyn Filewich led the way for UBC in both contests, beginning with an 18-point effort on Friday night while
Hailey Counsell added 10 points of her own.
On Saturyday, Filewich narrowly missed recording a double double, scoring 17 points and adding nine rebounds while
Hailey Counsell and
Gabrielle Laguerta chipped in with 11 points each. Laguerta was dangerous from outside with nine of her 11 points coming from three-point land thanks to three of six shooting from beyond the arc.
The Timberwolves head south to the lower mainland for a second straight weekend after splitting a pair of contests against Trinity Western University last time out. UNBC opened with a 70-62 victory over the Spartans last Friday with help from a balanced attack that saw four players reach double digit scoring. Leading the way was forward Madison Landry with 20 points while guard Maria Mongomo chipped in with 14 points. In the follow up affair it was TWU that topped the T-Wolves 63-52, this time it was guard Alina Shakirova pouring in 18 points while Landry was just in arrears with 16 points in the setback.
Coach's Take
Heading into week three of the regular season, Thunderbirds head coach
Deb Huband spoke to what aspects of the game she'd like her squad to focus on.
"We're continuing to learn and refine what we're trying to do," said Huband. "We'll have one addition back into the lineup who didn't play last weekend so we're happy about that but overall it will be another challenge against a difficult opponent. It will be about execution and playing with confidence while relying on our defence to set the tone for the weekend."
Huband also looked ahead to what she expects from the Timberwolves.
"Well they still have a couple of dominant offensive players with one of their international's Mongomo who is a good all-around threat, Landry is a dynamic guard with size and they have a couple of really effective shooters. They mix up what they do defensively and we saw that a little bit last weekend with Calgary and we hope to handle it a little bit better as we head into this weekend."
