VANCOUVER – Opportunity knocks for the U SPORTS No.6-ranked UBC Thunderbirds (10-1) as this weekend's games against the U SPORTS No.12-ranked UFV Cascades (9-3) give the T-Birds a chance to take a stranglehold on the Pacific Division and a clear path to the No.2 seed in Canada West. The Cascades travel across the Lower Mainland to play at 5:30 p.m. (PT) on Friday and then 4:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday at War Memorial Gym.
The T-Birds continue a homestand to kickoff 2025 that has already seen them pick up a pair of decisive victories. UBC took a 34-point win over the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack last Friday, followed by a 50-point blowout of the UNBC Timberwolves the next afternoon.
"I'm really happy with how we came back in term two," said UBC head coach Isabel Ormond. "We had such a long break from games so it could have gone different ways, but I think we did a lot of good prep coming back and the players did a lot of work on their own. I'm pretty happy with the first weekend, but not satisfied because the job's not done yet."
Beyond the boxscores, T-Birds fans watching last weekend were treated to the team's full compliment of talent, with key new additions
Keira Daly and
Jessica Clarke looking healthy and playing a full complement of minutes. Daly has been a revelation on the offensive end, sitting second on the team in scoring and top 10 in the conference in points per game as a true first-year who has largely come off of the bench. 6'4 center Clarke, however, may be having an even bigger impact on the evolving identity of the blue and gold in the team's second season under Coach Ormond. The Washington State transfer is not only leading Canada West in field goal percentage, but her per-minute rebounding numbers indicate she could be tops in the conference in rebounding as well, if she had been healthy and playing starter's minutes all season.
Last year , the 'Birds were a good rebounding team, ranking fourth to fifth in the conference in most rebounding metrics. This year, with the addition of Clarke and defensive specialist assistant coach Jaylyn Skeir, UBC is dominating its opponents on the glass on both ends of the court. The T-Birds rebounding margin of +14.4 is easily tops in Canada West. Remarkably, the team gets the most offensive rebounds in the league, while giving up the fewest, showing that their aggressiveness crashing the glass for second chance points has not diminished their ability to box out opponents and avoid giving up additional possessions on their end.
"It's been a deliberate focus and definitely part of the scheme," commented Ormond. "The faster you can get a rebound off of the rim, whether its offensive or defensive, the faster you can get into whatever's next. So it's a little bit of that attack mentality and going after it. We really make that a big focus for us in our scout process as well."
The UFV Cascades come to Point Grey for the first time since the 2022-23 season, but it's the second meeting between the teams this year. The T-Birds took down the Cascades 80-58 in Abbotsford the season-opener, a statement win that set the tone for UBC's strong first half.
The Cascades have been excellent this season following that loss, going 9-2 since then with both defeats by six points or fewer. UFV has also kept most of its core players intact from a strong 2023-24 campaign in which they finished 17-3, took Canada West Bronze and qualified the U SPORTS Championships.
"It's going to be a grind," assessed Ormond. "We know it's going to be a battle both nights for both teams. The effort is going to be there, the intensity is going to be there, as we're getting closer to playoffs with all of these wins counting toward where you end up."
A sweep, or even a split, would put the 'Birds in prime position to finish first in Canada West's Pacific Division, where they currently hold a two-game lead over UFV and a four-game lead over third place Trinity Western, the only other team in the division with a record above .500. The conference's revamped regular season schedule and playoff format has had a mixed impact on UBC. Playing only Pacific Division opponents this year has helped the blue and gold, in that most of the other top teams in the conference are in the Prairie Division. However, the new playoff structure is a slotted, divisionally-based system, meaning that the top team in the Pacific this season can only reach the No.2-seed in the playoffs, even if they have the best record in all of Canada West. A full breakdown of the revamped playoff format is available below the standings,
here.
Tickets for this weekend's game are still available
here. For those who can't make it in person, all regular season Thunderbirds basketball is available to stream, live or on demand, on
Canada West TV. In addition, the 2025 INDOCHINO U SPORTS Women's and Men's Final 8 Basketball Championships presented by Victory Creative Group is now less than two months away from taking place at UBC, tickets are now available
here.
