EDMONTON – It was a bit bumpy at times, but the UBC Thunderbirds took care of business in the end as they defeated the Lethbridge Pronghorns in the opening match of the Canada West Championship.
 
Seven different players scored the eight T-Bird tries, as they led from wire-to-wire. Sadie Gluvic was the one who got the scoring going in third minute, receiving a nice dish from Lana Dueck and splitting through the Pronghorns' defensive line to glide into the try zone untouched.
 
The T-Birds doubled the lead just a few minutes later, as after the Pronghorns did a good job of stuffing the always dangerous Charity Williams on the right side, the defending champs did an even better job of firing the ball to the opposite flank where Adia Pye found herself with enough room to run it in for the score.
 
Lethbridge began to gain some more territory in the offensive end as they tried to get a foothold in the match, but were unable to get it down to the UBC goal line.


 
The Thunderbirds then showed their quick-strike ability with a fantastic solo effort by Kiki Idowu. The third-year standout took the ball and ran over half the length of the field through traffic, dishing it to Brooklyn Roddham as she was finally brought down, who then scored the try. Roddham nailed the following convert, one of her four successful kicks on the day.
 
The scoring slowed down from there for a little while, as the Pronghorns did a good job of stemming some of the UBC momentum before getting the ball across the line themselves in the 32nd minute. A pile-up at the T-Birds' goalmouth ended with Emily Stewart crashing down onto the line with the ball, and after a quick discussion the officials ruled that she did break the plane for Lethbridge's first points of the day.
 
That served to galvanize the T-Birds, however, as they hit back with two more tries in quick succession before halftime. First, Pye notched her second of the game after doing a great job corralling a tough pass over her shoulder along the sideline. Then on the ensuing kick-off, Gluvic did a great job receiving the ball and crashing through a few defenders, helping set up Dueck to burst through the middle a few passes later.
 
Despite the adversity, the Pronghorns certainly didn't fold, and after the halftime break it was the underdogs who came out a little faster. They put some strong forward pressure on the UBC defensive line, and after a series of plays just inches away from the goal line they finally found paydirt through their captain Mackenzie Hutten.


 
Just like in the first half, however, the Thunderbirds didn't allow that momentum to carry forward for their opponent and struck back just two minutes later. Again, it was Gluvic involved in a key play, as she knocked the ball away on a Pronghorns' lineout deep in their own territory, with substitute Maddy Thran the grateful beneficiary as she scooped the ball and dove in for a try.
 
Lethbridge had one of their most impressive offensive plays of the day in the 61st minute, as Charli Helland caught the T-Birds sleeping after they were called for a penalty, with Helland quickly restarting play and driving the ball past a number of Thunderbird defenders. Hutten finished the play soon after, making it now five out of seven matches this season that the Pronghorns have scored 20+ points.
 
That was all the scoring they managed though, as the Thunderbirds shut down any attempts at a dramatic comeback bid. Poppy-Anne Elcock and Jaime Dickson each found the try zone in the final 10 minutes as the T-Birds saw out the victory and booked their place in the Canada West Final.
 
That gold medal match will be at 12:00 p.m. (PT) on Sunday, as UBC will face either Victoria or Alberta in the decisive battle.
 
 
SCORING SUMMARY
               1      2      F
UBC      33    17    50
LET        7     14    21
 
3' – UBC try – Sadie Gluvic (Brooklyn Roddham convert) 7-0 UBC
6' – UBC try – Adia Pye (Roddham convert) 14-0 UBC
12' – UBC try – Brooklyn Roddham (Roddham convert) 21-0 UBC
33' – LET try – Emily Stewart (Kayleigh Noel convert) 21-7 UBC
38' – UBC try – Adia Pye (Roddham convert missed) 26-7 UBC
40' – UBC try – Lana Dueck (Roddham convert) 33-7 UBC
HALF
51' – LET try – Mackenzie Hutten (Noel convert) 33-14 UBC
53' – UBC try – Maddy Thran (Olivia Sarabura convert missed) 38-14 UBC
61' – LET try – Mackenzie Hutten (Jayda Morrison convert) 38-21 UBC
70' – UBC try – Poppy-Anne Elcock (Sarabura convert missed) 43-21
76' – UBC try – Jaime Dickson (Sarah MacPherson convert) 50-21