LANGLEY, B.C. – It wasn't necessarily the prettiest of victories, but the Thunderbirds accomplished what they set out to do on Saturday night, and that's to improve to 2-0 and earn their first road win of conference play.
 
While the T-Birds shot worse from the field compared to the Spartans (34% vs 39%), they emerged with a 12-point victory in large part due to decisively winning the turnover battle – forcing 33 for the Spartans while committing just 17 themselves. All those extra possessions helped UBC put up 13 more field goal attempts and 10 more free throw attempts than their opponents.
 
Cerys Merton, Sara Toneguzzi and Olivia Weekes all recorded five steals, with Weekes also leading the T-Birds in both points (13) and rebounds (eight). Stella LaGrange added 10 points and three rebounds off the bench, while first-year forward Brooke Wagner tallied nine points and three rebounds in her first career start.
 


Cassidy Buchanan was electric for the Spartans, pouring in 28 points on 12-19 shooting along with three assists and five steals. Unfortunately for her, the hosts didn't have enough secondary scoring, with the rest of the team combining for just 22 points combined on 8-32 shooting.
 
The first quarter ended 16-9 in favour of the T-Birds, which while fairly low-scoring was also the highest scoring quarter in terms of total points until the fourth.
 
After Jaeli Ibbetson scored her team's first four points of the game, the Thunderbirds reeled off a 9-0 run in the middle portion of the opening frame to turn a slim early deficit into a decent-sized early lead.
 
But while the T-Birds were up by as many as eight points early on, the Spartans quickly jumped right back into things in the second. Buchanan began to cook in this quarter, drilling a three-pointer before then stealing the ball on the next play and scoring on a layup to cut the UBC lead to just two points.
 
While the Spartans briefly took the lead on another Buchanan basket a few minutes later, Wagner grabbed it back with a bucket inside off an Ibbetson pass. The final three minutes of the half were scoreless as neither team could get a steady offensive rhythm, and the Thunderbirds took a 25-24 advantage into the break.


 
The T-Birds remained locked in defensively to begin the second half, and forced more turnovers (10) than they allowed points (eight) in the third quarter. While they didn't shoot that well themselves on the other end, six offensive rebounds and their ability to get to the free throw line (where they shot 5-6 in the frame) helped push their lead back out to six points.
 
The lead hit double digits for the first time in the game when Jade Huynh hit a triple early in the fourth, a massive shot considering that the T-Birds had been 2-15 from the outside up until that point.
 
Buchanan again kept the pressure on, scoring eight points in less than three minutes to try and keep her team right in it, but the T-Birds did enough to stay in front. A pair of three-pointers from LaGrange – including a massive one with her team up by just five with two minutes left on the clock – helped seal the deal, and the T-Birds were able to head home with the W.
 
Next up for UBC is a Halloween matchup against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack, part of a two-game home series next Friday and Saturday at War Memorial Gym.