VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds begin their journey toward hosting the
2025 Indochino U SPORTS Basketball Final 8 presented by Victory by taking on a pair of local rivals to kick off the new Canada West campaign. The T-Birds travel to Abbotsford for clash with the UFV Cascades at 6:00 p.m. (PT) on Halloween night before returning to Point Grey to host the Trinity Western Spartans on Saturday for their home opener, presented by YVR. The home opener is slated for a 4:00 p.m. (PT) tip-off at War Memorial Gym.
The blue and gold are tasked with following tremendous 2023-24 regular season that saw the team improve by six wins, to 17-3. That was the first year under head coach Isabel Ormond, whose cultural and stylistic changes made a team that underwent little roster turnover from the season before feel like a brand new group. Roster continuity should be a strength for UBC this year as well, as the 'Birds only lost one graduating senior after last season, giving Coach Ormond a great opportunity to build on the foundation that she laid last year.
"We're looking at really challenging ourselves in year two to be more focused and disciplined in certain areas and to build off the success and energy of our first year," said Ormond, who currently boasts the fourth best winning percentage of active U SPORTS women's basketball head coaches. "With transfer
Jessica Clarke, I think you'll notice some changes with how we play inside. But ultimately one of our goals last year was balancing our perimeter scoring a little bit more, and I think we have some returning players who really worked on that in the off-season, as well as some first years who will make an impact in that regard as well."
Clarke is a 6'4 forward from North Vancouver who was in the rotation in for an NCAA DI program at Washington State before coming home to join the T-Birds ahead of her senior season. Read more about Clarke and the team's three other new additions
here.
Those in the Canada West basketball world who are not out trick or treating will surely have their eyes on the UFV Athletic Centre on Thursday as the T-Birds season opener is a clash between two 17-3 squads from the year before. Despite their proximity, UBC and UFV did not face one another last season. The Cascades, who hosted the Canada West Championships in 2024, won the conference bronze medal and earned a trip to the U SPORTS Championship, where they lost both of their games.
"They always play hard and it's always a very physical game that really tests your patience and your discipline over a whole 40 minutes," commented Ormond. "We're really getting ready for a tough battle. We're preparing to fight for rebounds, expecting a lot of physicality. We need to be ready for that while also keeping up our pace of play, which will be an interesting challenge."
The home opener will see the 'Birds take on a traditional rival in Trinity Western. The Spartans were a solid 12-8 last season, but lost both of their games at War Memorial Gym, albeit by six and five points respectively. TWU saw its 2023-24 season end by losing a Canada West Play-In game to the UBCO Heat in Kelowna.
"It will be interesting taking on two different opponents in a weekend with one day in between, that's something that we haven't had to do in Canada West in the past," noted Ormond. "The Spartans have a veteran point guard who handles the ball well and organizes their offence efficiently, so we need to focus on disrupting that and really imposing our own game."
"We're excited to start conference play and get our game streamed when we're home and on the road so that our great fans can really start following along with this team!"
Find all of those streamed games, live or on demand, on
Canada West TV. Tickets to the UBC Basketball Home Openers presented by YVR may still be available
here.
