SASKATOON, Sask.  – A battle of two long-time Canada West rivals needed a shootout to decide their first meeting of the season with the UBC Thunderbirds coming out on top, 2-1 at Merlis Belsher Place.

Mackenzie Kordic scored her tenth goal of the season to break a scoreless deadlock just 34 seconds into the third but Isabella Pozzi tied the game on the power play at the 6:55 mark.

With overtime solving nothing, Chanreet Bassi was the only one of eight shooters to find the back of the net to secure the win for UBC, their 11^th of the season to remain clear atop the conference with a four point margin.

"It was a great, hard fought battle and a good team effort," said UBC head coach Graham Thomas. "It felt like a playoff game. Saskatchewan played hard and (goaltender) Camryn Drever played solid for them. Elise Hugens was great in net for us and Bassi made a beautiful move to secure the win. Now we need to regroup and be ready for another battle tomorrow."

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THE HIGHLIGHTS

Saskatchewan goaltender Camryn Drever made some incredible saves in the first period, keeping an aggressive UBC offence out of the Huskies net. Teams headed into intermission tied at 0-0 with shots on goal also tied up at 6-6.

The Thunderbirds brought the heat in the second period, ramping up offensively and outshooting the Huskies 15-9, but Drever was letting nothing through, stopping everything that came her way. After two periods of play, the game was still scoreless.

UBC came out quick in the third period, with an unassisted goal from second year Mackenzie Kordic just over thirty seconds into the frame.

The Huskies answered back with a beautiful power play goal from the blue line by fifth year Isabella Pozzi at 6:55 into the third. The game would head into overtime with a 1-1 tie.

After no score in the five minute overtime period, teams were headed to a shootout. After four rounds, UBC's Chanreet Bassi would be the hero, firing one past Drever for the 2-1 UBC win.


 
THE STATS

UBC's Mackenzie Kordic scored her tenth goal of the season in the win.

Elise Hugens went 24-25 in goal for the Thunderbirds. Saskatchewan's Camryn Drever stopped 37 of 38 shots in regulation time.

Both teams had five powerplay opportunities, but Saskatchewan's Isabella Pozzi was the lone powerplay goal of the game.

The three stars of the game were UBC's Chanreet Bassi for her shootout goal, and both goaltenders, Elise Hugens and Camryn Drever. 


 
THE NEXT ONE

Game two of the weekend series is set for 3:00 p.m. PT Saturday at Merlis Belsher Place. The game will be streamed live on Canada West TV.