VANCOUVER – After a pair of very narrow defeats to open the Canada West season the UBC Thunderbirds go in search of their first win of the campaign when they host the University of Fraser Valley Cascades for back-to-back contests this weekend. The first meeting goes Friday, November 5 with a 6:00 p.m. tip off while the return engagement takes place Saturday, November 6 and a 5:00 p.m. start at War Memorial Gym.
Even though the 'Birds didn't get the results they wanted on opening weekend the young squad certainly displayed gutsy efforts and entertaining basketball in dropping two decisions by a combined six points while welcoming the fans back to campus.
In last Thursday's home opener, the T-Birds came up just short in a thrilling 72-68 defeat to the Trinity Western Spartans in a matchup that saw both teams trade buckets from start to finish. The hosts spread out the scoring with five players reaching double digits including third-year guard
Hailey Counsell who led the way with 24 points while adding five rebounds. Forward Azalya Forsbauer recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in her UBC debut while
Emily Martindale added 13 points in the loss.
Meanwhile, two nights later the drama was even more heightened as the visiting University of Victoria Vikes battled back from a 16-point deficit to edge the T-Birds 74-72 thanks to a last second buzzer-beater. Counsell had another standout performance for UBC with 23 points while Martindale added 14 points and
Kate Johnson chipped in with 13 points in the heartbreaker.
"We battled hard for 40 minutes both nights," said first-year UBC head coach
Erin McAleenan. "But we didn't execute well end of game either night and yet both games came right down to the wire. I think that is evidence of our young and inexperienced group, but we have improved a lot from one game to the next so I know we will be even better this weekend. I thought when we played at our pace we executed well and were hard to guard, but when we didn't, we ended up taking tough shots. After winning the battle of the boards against Trinity, we gave up way too many offensive rebounds to Victoria, so we just need to be more consistent with our play, and that will come."
The visiting Cascades started the season 2-0 thanks to home victories of 71-67 over UBC Okanagan last Friday followed by a decisive 73-48 score line against UNBC last Saturday. Second-year guard Maddy Gobeil led the way for UFV in the opener narrowly missing a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds while on Saturday it was first-year forward Julia Tuchscherer stepping up to record the double-double thanks to netting 25 points and adding an impressive 18 rebounds.
"UFV has a very talented team and their style is much different than ours so it will be an interesting matchup," added McAleenan when asked what she knows of and expects from the visitors. "They play physical and look to slow it down to find a post-up in the paint as well as having a handful of players who can shoot the 3. UFV is a top team in Canada West this year, so it will be another great challenge for us on our home court."
Tickets for this season are free but you must register on line to access them. For more information and ticket availability check
here.
You can also watch all the action on
Canada West TV.
