VANCOUVER – The U SPORTS No.2-ranked UBC Thunderbirds (6-0) will look to defend their perfect record this weekend when they welcome the U SPORTS No.7-ranked Calgary Dinos (4-2) to War Memorial Gym for the T-Birds' last home games of 2024. The two teams first square off on Friday at 5:30 p.m. (PT) before playing the second game of the series on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. (PT).
Saturday's game is part of UBC's annual
Courtside Festival. The event features special performances and promotion throughout the afternoon as well as the Domino's 3 pt tracker, giving fans the chance to win free pizza if the team hits six three-pointers!
"It's great getting fans out and having the crowd cheer and have your back during the game gives you some momentum," said UBC head coach Isabel Ormond. "We know these two games coming up this weekend are going to be tough, so to have people giving you energy from the sideline helps you keep going and lock in for the full 80 minutes of action over the weekend."
The Thunderbirds are coming off of a pair of important wins over their rival Victoria last weekend, exorcising the demons from a loss to the Vikes in the Canada West playoffs last year.
The T-Birds blew out their opponents from Vancouver Island on Friday, winning 93-54, before
smothering the Vikes down the stretch on Saturday to earn a 68-53 victory.
The 'Birds defence has been sensational all season long, as the team has yet to allow an opponent to reach 60 points. UBC's 51.3 points per game against is good for second in the conference and a full six points better its average last year.
"We're really just trying to focus everyone on taking ownership of their individual part that plays into our team success," explained Ormond. "We know what our principles are, we know what we're looking for, but at the end of the day you have to be able to guard your own and hopefully save us from rotating and doubling and all of those things that makes defence more complicated."
The blue and gold's offence has been just as good, posting a conference-best average of 78.7 points per game, seven points better than their mark last season. A major reason for the uptick in scoring is the play of first year guard
Keira Daly, who was just named
Canada West Player of the Week.
Daly has been averaging 17 points per game, tied for fourth in the conference, despite coming off of the bench in all but one game. She leads Canada West in both free throw makes and attempts, getting to the line a whopping 45 times in her first six U SPORTS contests. Daly has also displayed an advanced ability to grasp the team's defensive schemes, showing a penchant for well-timed aggressiveness by racking up five steals last Saturday, in her first career start.
"She's been great for us on both ends of the floor," praised Ormond. "She's impacting us offensively with some of the control, some of the will to get to the basket and draw fouls and finish a layup. A lot of that is almost courage to go into some traffic and take some contact.
"Defensively, she's getting tips, she's getting steals, she's putting pressure on the ball. Her ability to play composed on both ends of the floor as a new player at this level might be what stands out the most.
"We're also using her to facilitate and create an advantage for us. Getting the ball in her hands with some of our other key players around her, let them run some two-player actions, find shooters, find duck-ins, find cuttters. She draws a lot of attention from opposing teams already, which we use to our advantage."
Calgary comes to town for the second time in 2024, having split a pair of games at War Memorial gym on the final weekend of last year's regular season in late February, one of only two teams to defeat UBC across the campaign. The Dinos finished the year at 16-4, but endured a disappointing playoff run, losing to rival Alberta in the Canada West quarter-finals.
This season, the Dinos have also lost a pair of games to the Pandas, but won their other four games, including dismantling the MacEwan Griffins by 40+ points twice last weekend. Calgary held MacEwan to 34 points and 32 points in those two games, lowering their points against mark to 50.5, just ahead of the 'Birds for best in the conference.
"It's going to be a big battle," remarked Ormond. "They always play to a high pace, high pressure, they have some great scorers on the team. Their defence has really improved, even from last year, which makes them way more difficult on both ends of the floor.
"We're getting ready to take care of the ball, manage their pressure, and really try to shut down some of their key offensive playmakers."
Tickets to this weekend's games, especially around Saturday's
Courtside Festival, are expected to go quickly. Get them
here, if still available. Watch the Thunderbirds all regular season long, live or on demand, on
Canada West TV.
