SASKATOON – The UBC Thunderbirds women's basketball team lost a heartbreaking Canada West semifinal 76-72 to the host Saskatchewan Huskies Friday night inside the Physical Activity Complex in Saskatoon.
 
The No. 1-ranked Huskies took a 73-72 lead with just 33 seconds left to play when second-year guard Carly Ahlstrom knocked down a contested three pointer that allowed them to punch their ticket to both a seventh-straight Canada West title game and a trip to the U SPORTS Final 8 Championships in the process.
 
The loss was just the second in the 2020 calendar year for UBC. Fifth-year captain Jessica Hanson totalled 16 points while Canada West First Team All-Star Keylyn Filewich was good for 16 points and 12 boards.
 

Fifth-year guard Maddison Penn came off the bench to score 13 points in 15 minutes. She was perfect on eight trips to the foul line, grabbed six rebounds and blocked two shots. Kate Johnson chipped in with 12 points of 6-of-10 shooting from the field.
 

 
Megan Ahlstrom, a fifth-year captain, led the way with 21 points for Saskatchewan while Summer Masikewich had another strong game recording 18 points and eight rebounds. Carly Ahlstrom finished the night with a career-high 14 points and 11 rebounds for the double-double.
 
While the season comes to an end for UBC with the loss it wasn't for a lack of effort as the visitors went toe-to-toe with the Huskies, holding the lead for nearly the entire third quarter and deep into the fourth.
 
A back-and-forth first half saw neither team able to grab a double-digit lead with Saskatchewan holding a slim 38-36 advantage at the break.
 
The Thunderbirds came out of the gates on fire to start the second half.
 
A 13-0 run keyed by two offensive rebounds and pair of forced turnovers allowed UBC to jump out to a 49-38 lead. Hanson started the run with a three-point basket, then Filewich (six points in the run) and Johnson (four points) traded turns scoring.
 

 
Saskatchewan was able to stem the tide by immediately answering with a 6-0 run of their own but were never able to completely close the gap until late.

Trailing by six points with just three minutes left to play the Huskies got back-to-back buckets from Masikewich before the heroics from Carly Ahlstrom.