VANCOUVER – After earning one home win and one road win on opening weekend, the T-Birds are back at War Memorial Gym for a pair of home games against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Friday, October 31, and Saturday, November 1.
The WolfPack played just one game last weekend, on the road at UBC Okanagan. While they were up at halftime, a big second half from the Heat meant that TRU fell 52-48 in the end. Second-year forward Morgan Eichenberger led the way on both ends – playing all 40 minutes while recording 16 points, eight rebounds and five blocks.
T-Birds head coach
Dave Taylor will certainly have had his eye on that matchup in Kelowna, but it's certainly not his sole focus heading into this weekend.
"This early in the season you're worried about the other teams, but you're more focused on your own performance and cleaning up your own things," he said. "Who do we want to be? We want to be a strong defensive team that on offence can hurt teams inside – be able to shoot the ball well from the outside too, but be an inside-out team."
Fifth-year star
Olivia Weekes leads the team in both points (16) and rebounds (7.5) per game through the first two outings, with first-year forward
Brooke Wagner sitting second or tied for second in both categories (nine points, five rebounds per game) despite averaging just 18.5 minutes off the bench.
Jade Huynh has also provided bench scoring, hitting 5-9 from beyond the arc in the early going.
Where the Thunderbirds have excelled early on, however, is on the defensive end, holding UFV to 47 points and Trinity Western to 50 points. In their other games on opening weekend, the Cascades scored 65 and the Spartans 76, both in wins over Victoria.
"I think that's going to be our strength," remarked Taylor on his team's defence. "We've got a lot of length, so I think when we're locked in defensively we make things hard for teams. We were probably inconsistent – when we're locked in we're really good, and then at times we just make some mental mistakes and that's when they make some runs. If we can get consistent defensively that's going to take us a long way."
The T-Birds will also want to take advantage of their home-heavy schedule to start the year. This weekend's games are in the middle of a stretch of five out of six at home at the beginning of the season. After that, however, they'll be on the road for 10 of the remaining 14 regular season games.
"As we're trying to lock in some stuff it's nice being at home," added Taylor. "Obviously the road's coming, but just in prep and everything it's so much easier being at home."
Friday's game tips off at 5:30 p.m. (PT), while Saturday's action starts at 4:00 p.m. (PT) inside War Memorial Gym.
