VANCOUVER – A total team effort allowed the UBC Thunderbirds to secure a second straight win, 66-60 over the TWU Spartans to sweep the weekend series Saturday afternoon at War Memorial Gym. The back-to-back victories coming out of the extended winter break saw the T-Birds improve their record to 10-2, while the Spartans dropped to 8-2 on the Canada West season.
The 'Birds were led by
Mona Berlitz with 13 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
Emily Martindale added 11 points, on the strength of 3-5 shooting from three-point land, five rebounds and three assists, while the unsung hero
Emilia Banmann, off the bench, added eight points, seven rebounds and a blocked shot in only 13 minutes of play. The team combined for 28 points scored from the bench.
"We actually used a quote, "Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us,"" said Thunderbirds head coach Isabel Ormond. "I think that helped when people had to go in at different moments, do different things and teams win games when you can rely on a bunch of different people."
For the Spartans, it was Hailey Van Roekel who led the charge with 12 points and six rebounds, while Gracie Corneau scored 12 and gathered four rebounds.
Coming out the gate, both teams matched Friday night's energy. The Spartans started fast with back-to-back layups from Van Roekel and Cassidy Buchanan respectively, but the Birds responded. Berlitz answered with the bucket on the inside, Martindale added a triple and
Sofia Bergman scored an and-1 lay-up.
Van Roekel followed up to shift things up, as she scored an and-1 layup, but the play suddenly slowed down by the defensive execution from both teams. But when
Emilia Banmann checked into the game, momentum shifted. She was the dominant force behind the Thunderbirds success on the inside. Coming off the bench, she gathered six offensive boards that turned into eight points for the Birds in the first-half.
"Emilia has been great all term," emphasized Ormond. "She is stepping into a big role for us. She comes in and just works hard; it doesn't matter what happens, she works hard and if you had more players like that, we'd be in a pretty good league as you saw tonight."
The Spartans ball movement helped them stay within five though the second. Shemaiah Abatayo created space with the dribble moves, went to the free-throw line and set up for peers, Blessing Ibekwe and Corneau who both finished open looks underneath the rim.
At half, the T-Birds led 36-34.
To start the third,
Sara Toneguzzi knocked down a triple, while Martindale added to the fire by making a three of her own; making it three for three in the afternoon. Space opened up for more opportunities on the inside, but the defensive pressure allowed for quick transition offense and put the 'Birds in the driving seat with a 50-36 lead.
Spartans' Abatayo took matters into her hands to rally the team back. She hit a triple, a layup and set up Van Roekel for a jumper and drive to send her to the free-throw line to get the team within seven, 52-45 to end the third.
Jayden Gill found some stretches to get the team going late in the fourth. Gill drove left and found the glass for a two and in back-to-back possessions, got through the Birds' defence to score another lay-up as the clock expired.
With less than two minutes in the fourth, the Spartans threw everyone to the offensive glass, but were unable to find the back of the rim to make a comeback, as the Thunderbirds made the defensive stops down the stretch to hold on to the win.
On January 12th, The T-Birds will host the University of Manitoba Bisons here at the War Memorial Gymnasium, while the Spartans will host University of Victoria Vikes at the David E. Enarson gym.
