VANCOUVER - After a slow start to the game the UBC Thunderbirds played one of their best halves of the season on Friday, turning on the jets to outscore the UFV Cascades 40-10 in the final 20 minutes en route to a 69-38 win.
"UFV really took control of the pace in that first half," said Thunderbirds head coach Isabel Ormond. "We want to play a lot faster than we did, so we made that a big intentional focus - trying to push the ball up the wing in different ways so we can get back a little to our style."
In a game that featured plenty of hard-nosed defence, the T-Birds shot just 32% from the field but grabbed 26 offensive rebounds and forced the Cascades into 39 turnovers.Â
Mona Berlitz led the team in scoring with 18 points, five rebounds and three steals, while Olivia Weekes turned in a great two-way performance with 13 points, four boards and three blocks. Keira Daly added 15 points off the bench including a season-high three three-pointers.
Esther Allison nearly double-doubled for the Cascades with 11 points and nine rebounds. Julia Tuchscherer was a defensive force with five blocks to go with seven points and seven boards.
The start of the game was a slugfest, with both teams trying to work the ball inside and both teams providing very strong interior defence. The two sides combined for just nine points and seven turnovers in the first five minutes, before the Cascades went up 9-6 off a tough finish through contact from Maddy Gobeil.
Daly answered with a triple on the other end a minute later, followed soon after by a big block from Jessica Clarke that got the T-Birds bench fired up. But the home team were unable to get their offence going, as they ended the first down 12-9 in their lowest-scoring opening quarter of the season.
Daly opened the second with another three, but Allison responded with one right back on the other end. The Thunderbirds finally got some momentum going after that, as they went on an 8-0 run with all the points scored off of UFV turnovers.
First, Emily Martindale stole the ball and found Berlitz with a hit-ahead pass for a wide-open transition layup. Berlitz then returned the favour, getting a steal of her own which led to a three-pointer for Martindale, followed soon after by another from Daly.
The lead went back and forth in the final few minutes of the half, with Sara Toneguzzi draining a three with less than 10 seconds on the clock to put UBC up 29-28 at the break. The T-Birds ended the opening half with more field goals made from beyond the arc (six) than inside of it (four).
The second half is where the Thunderbirds shone. They continued to up their physicality in the third, holding the Cascades scoreless for over five minutes to begin the quarter. A block from Weekes was followed by a mid-range jumper from Daly which made it 37-28 for the hosts, their biggest lead of the night to that point.
UBC kept the heat on for the rest of the frame, and outscored the Cascades 20-6 overall in the third to take a commanding lead. They forced the visitors into 12 turnovers in the quarter, and held them to just two made field goals.
Weekes continued her strong play to begin the fourth, scoring the first six T-Birds points of the final frame. The lead only continued to grow as the 'Birds played with confidence. A Katie Hartman fastbreak layup made it 59-35, followed by back-to-back Berlitz buckets.
The UBC avalanche continued until the final buzzer as they refused to give UFV anything easy, to the delight of the T-Birds coaching staff.
"We want to play defence right to the buzzer," stated Ormond. "8-second calls, 24-second calls…it's that intensity right to the buzzer no matter what's happening, that's a main focus for us."
The two teams will face off for a final time this regular season on Saturday night. A win would put the Thunderbirds firmly in the driver's seat for the battle to grab the #1 seed in the Pacific Division. The all-important BC battle tips off at 4:00 p.m. (PT) at War Memorial Gym.
Â
