VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds (10-7) nearly pulled off a massive fourth quarter comeback, but ultimately fell 68-59 to the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades (12-5) on Friday evening at War Memorial Gym. The Thunderbirds were in foul trouble throughout the game, sending UFV to the line a whopping 25 times while taking only 11 free throws of their own.
"I think we let a lot of the fouls get to us early," said UBC head coach Erin McAleenan, referring to the T-Birds picking up 8 fouls in the opening frame alone. "Pretty lopsided calls for us. We got in some foul trouble early, which made it tough. Then we just kept it even in the second half. Can't keep it even when we're down nine at half. But it's a game of runs and I thought we really battled and never gave up through the highs and lows. But we just can't put them on the free throw line 25 times."
UBC captain
Sara Toneguzzi led all Thunderbirds scorers with 16 points and was the only player in the game to make multiple threes. She was matched by UFV's Maddy Gobeil, who scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter to help seal the game while teammate Julia Tuchscherer added 14 points and five rebounds for the visitors. UBC's Azayla Forstbauer finished two points shy of a double double, contributing a game-high 13 rebounds along with her eight points.
Olivia Weekes was the only other T-Bird in double digits, pouring in 10 points in just 18 minutes. It was a game of threes for UBC's
Taelor Coxford who led UBC with three assists to go along with three points and three rebounds. She was also a team-high +11 on the evening.
The Thunderbirds started the game looking sharp on offence, getting out in transition and working the interior to build an early lead. UBC used an 8-0 advantage in fastbreak scoring in the first quarter to go up 18-13 at the break. 16 of those points were scored in the paint.
Second quarter foul trouble caught up to the T-Birds as Weekes picked up her third foul minutes into the second quarter, keeping her glued to the bench until half. The Cascades took full advantage of Weekes' absence, scoring the first nine points in the quarter and piling up 18 points in the paint of their own to take a 36-27 lead into the half. UFV captain Natalia Rathler led all scorers with 10 first half points.
UBC started rallying midway through the 3rd quarter with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 47-39. It was sparked by the Thunderbrids' first three pointer of the game by Toneguzzi, followed by a three point play on an and-one from Coxford. Toneguzzi added another three later in the quarter, but UFV maintained a 51-42 lead going into the final frame.
The Cascades began pulling away early in the fourth quarter, starting it off with a 12-4 run and pushing their lead to a game high 17 points. The Thunderbirds responded with an 11-0 run of their own, thanks to back to back threes by Emily Martintdale and Weekes, pulling to within six in the final minute. But that was as close as they came.
These two teams will play the second half of their back to back Saturday at 4:00 p.m. (PT) at UBC's War Memorial Gym.
