VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (6-0) swept away their archrival Victoria Vikes (3-3) with a 68-53 victory at War Memorial Gym on Saturday afternoon. The T-Birds pushed their perfect start to the Canada West season to six games on an afternoon where one of the greatest teams in program history, the 2003-04 Thunderbirds, was honoured ahead of being
inducted into the UBC Athletics Hall of Fame.
Keira Daly was the offensive star for the T-Birds, as the freshman phenom got her first U SPORTS start and took full advantage by dropping 17 points. She added four rebounds, three assists and an astounding five steals. Shockingly, Daly was not the most prolific thief for the 'Birds, as fan favourite
Cerys Merton has six swipes in a dominant defensive display, all while energizing teammates on the bench at every opportunity.
Victoria's forwards carried their offence, as Abigail Becker posted an 11-points, 10-rebound double-double, while using her length to be a disruptor on defence. Mimi Sigue led the Vikes in scoring with 12 points, while also chipping six rebounds, two steals, and a block.
"We're happy we got it done, it was an absolute grind," said UBC head coach Isabel Ormond. "We knew coming into it we were going to have to work for everything and work harder than yesterday. Victoria played hard, that was a really gritty basketball game from both teams who really dug in."
The game started out evenly, with the teams trading baskets until the T-Birds went on a 9-2 run midway through the first quarter to take a 19-12 lead. Despite picking up several fouls in the first few minutes, UBC stayed aggressive throughout the frame and used an effective full court press to help gain the advantage.
The Vikes found their footing and played the 'Birds evenly from there until the half, with the second quarter ending at 39-31 for UBC. T-Bird
Mona Berlitz was leading all scorers at the half with 11 points. Becker has nine for Victoria at the break.
Merton made her mark on the game at the start the second half. The tenacious third-year guard had an incredible sequence to begin the third quarter, showing her ability to hound the primary Victoria ballhandler for the length of the court on every possession. Within the first two minutes she twice tied up the ballhandler to force a jump ball, forced a travelling turnover and grabbed two contested rebounds, all before swiping the ball cleanly and going in for an unassisted layup. That capped a 7-0 for the T-Birds to start the half and forced a Vikes timeout barely two minutes in.
"She's the heartbeat of our defensive intensity and especially when it's in the full court and she gets to pressure the ball," praised Ormond, when asked about Merton's determined effort. "She does that really well for us and kind of gets her teammates going. We talk a lot about sharing the energy and communicating energy to each other and she does that with her defence."
The T-Birds' 15-point lead more or less held steady from early in the third.
Daly's best quarter was the fourth, when she tallied five points and added steals on consecutive possessions early in the stanza. Sigue was strong for Victoria in the fourth frame as well, trying to will her team back into the contest with six points and a steal, before taking a seat on the bench when the game was firmly out of reach.
Next up for UBC is another back-to-back home series against a tough opponent, with the U SPORTS No.7-ranked Calgary Dinos coming to War Memorial Gym next weekend. Victoria continues its difficult Lower Mainland road trip with a visit to Abbotsford to take on the U SPORTS No.11-ranked UFV Cascades for a pair of games next weekend as well.
