VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds are off to the Canada West quarterfinals in 2023! Friday evening in Saskatoon, SK the 'Birds earned a scrappy 65-52 victory over the UBC Okanagan Heat. Rookie Mona Berlitz notched a career-best 23 points along with six rebounds and went eight-for-nine from the free-throw line. Fellow rookie Taelor Coxford supplied 10 points for the 'Birds while Kelsey Falk led the response for UBCO with 16 points. UBC's stingy defense forced 23 UBCO turnovers and held their opponents to a 27.3 percent shooting rate. The victory now means a quarterfinal tilt with Saskatchewan tomorrow at 4:00 pm.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS
 
"Mona was able to come in with great focus and showed great poise which is so impressive considering the time she's missed recently," remarked head coach Erin McAleenan in the moments following her team's victory. "It was a big help for us offensively but you could see her focus defensively too. She delivered a 'big time' statistical performance for us tonight."


 
After the opening 10 minutes of play, the score was tied 17-17. UBC jumped out to an early 5-0 lead on the strength of a Sara Toneguzzi layup and a three pointer from Emily Martindale. Toneguzzi, the UBC captain led the 'Birds with six first quarter points while Emily Martindale chimed in with a team-leading four first quarter rebounds. Late in the first quarter, UBCO held a 17-13 lead, but two successful free throws from Sara Toneguzzi and a jumper from Mona Berlitz forced a tied game. Kelsey Falk led the UBCO Heat with 10 first quarter points.
 
Points were tough to come by in the early moments of the second quarter. Only four points were registered in the opening two minutes and 10 seconds, but they all came from UBC. Katie Hartman got UBC going with a layup. Then 27 seconds later Cerys Merton got on the scoresheet with a layup to go up by four points. Taelor Coxford, Mona Berlitz and Sara Toneguzzi (a three-pointer) would then knock down jumpers giving UBC five of the first six buckets, and a six-point advantage at the halfway point of the period. For the first 7:47 of quarter #2, UBCO managed only two points. Their cold streak finally ended with a Lauren Foullong three-point shot. With 1:13 left in the second, Taelor Coxford knocked down her fourth field-goal of the night, giving her eight points for the half and giving UBC a 10-point cushion. Rachel Hare potted a late bucket for UBCO to force a 32-24 score at halftime for the 'Birds.
 
"We've been preaching a commitment to defense all year," added Erin McAleenan. "It's been our backbone and our identity and so we're super pleased that we were able to dig deep defensively, even at points in the game when we weren't scoring. We forced their best players into tough shots and that was a big difference."
 
The Heat kicked off the third quarter with a 9-0 run and held a momentary 33-32 lead. But rookie Mona Berlitz took a Sara Toneguzzi pass and drilled a three-pointer to stop the bleeding and restore UBC's lead with 5:11 remaining. That bucket would prove key, because shortly thereafter, Azalya Forstbauer would knock back two shots, Hailey Counsell drilled two free throws and Mona Berlitz converted a layup and two free-throws to help UBC restore an eight-point lead. UBC ended the third quarter on a 12-2 run and held a 47-37 lead.


 
The plucky Heat didn't go away quietly. They started the fourth quarter on a 5-0 run, and had a few chances to inch even closer. But some timely stops and a successful elbow jumper from the Taelor Coxford put UBC back up by seven. With under four minutes to play, Mona Berlitz took over. The first-year German-born forward sunk four straight free throws and later added back-to-back layups to give UBC their largest lead of the night (13 points). Fittingly it was a pair of free throws from Berlitz that cemented the eventual 65-52 victory. 10 of Berlitz' team-leading 23 points came in the final quarter.
 
Up next for UBC – A battle with the #1 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 PM from Saskatoon. This will mark the first meeting for the 'Birds and Huskies since the Canada West championship game from February 21, 2020.
 
"You have to beat everybody at some point, and we'll be prepared for a tough challenge tomorrow," concluded Erin McAleenan. "Coming off a game like today where we really had to fight for the win and we did it as a team. For us to be successful we're going to have to rely on our defense and take advantage of our offensive opportunities when we get them."