VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (10-9) kept pace through a tight opening half against the University of Victoria Vikes (9-10) but gave up 27 points in the third quarter to fall 76-47 in their final regular season game at War Memorial Gym.
"They crushed us in the paint," said UBC head coach Erin McAleenan. "They did a really good job getting deep positioning and finishing. It's pretty tough to win when you can't make your buckets inside. Also, in the third, we kept getting stops but couldn't get a defensive rebound and
Katie Hartman got her fourth foul…so it was a backbreaker. We need to be able to control the rebounds better and limit their opportunities. The biggest thing is to be playing our best basketball going into the playoffs. We knew we're already in, but for us we need to hunt down four consistent quarters of basketball, so we have to lock in tomorrow to try and bounce back."
In the absence of top scorer
Olivia Weekes,
Sara Toneguzzi stepped up to lead the T-Birds with 16 points and shot 50 percent from beyond the arc,
Hailey Counsell had seven points with three assists, and
Taelor Coxford added six points and five boards in the loss. Vikes captain Ashlyn Day poured in twelve third-quarter points and finished with a team-high 21 – adding nine boards, while former 'Bird
Kate Johnson had 18 points and Brooklyn White racked up a Canada West career-best 17 rebounds in the win.
Johnson showed off her speed to put UVic up 8-6 in the first quarter, as the Vikes jumped out to a 16-8 cushion after another Johnson layup. Toneguzzi brought the 'Birds back within five with a trey at 16-11 and Martindale drained a smooth step-back jumper to close the quarter at 18-13 UVic. Toneguzzi made it 24-20 on another three, while the Thunderbirds defense clamped down and
Sofia Bergman came up with a big block on the other end. Coxford made it 25-24 on a short jumper, but Becker went to work in the paint to reclaim a 30-25 advantage and the Vikes went into halftime up 33-26.
Ashlyn Day knocked down a triple to open the third quarter for Victoria, before Toneguzzi responded with a three of her own at 36-33 Vikes. That Toneguzzi trey was the last bucket the 'Birds would score for a lengthy stretch, as Day stayed hot – rattling off back-to-back threes before scoring her ninth straight point on a free throw for a 48-33 lead.
Azalya Forstbauer finally stopped the run with a jumper late in the frame, and the T-Birds trailed 60-37 after a MacKinnon buzzer-beating trey to end the quarter. The deficit proved to be too much to overcome, and UBC dropped their third consecutive game with just one more test before the Canada West playoffs.
Following the game, Kavie Toor, Managing Director of UBC Athletics and Recreation shared a major announcement with the Thunderbird crowd, that UBC had been awarded
the 2025 U SPORTS Women's and Men's Basketball Final 8 tournaments at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre and War Memorial Gym, March 13-16
th 2025.
The Thunderbirds will now hop on a ferry to face the Vikes in a rematch to close out their regular season and determine their playoff positioning in the provincial capital on Saturday, February 9
th, at 5:00 p.m. (PT).
