Vancouver, BC — Fresh off their first regular-season loss, the UBC Thunderbirds (5-1) returned to War Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday hoping for a different outcome against the UBC-Okanagan Heat (3-3), and Olivia Weekes took it upon herself to deliver just that by posting a career-high 30-point night to lead her squad to a decisive 70-51 win.

"She was mad going into this game; she was unhappy about last night," said UBC head coach Dave Taylor. "I was pretty sure she was going have a big night, and she was aggressive right off the hop."

Just after the opening tip, Weekes quickly went to work, scoring her team's first 11 points — all of which were from inside the paint — to hand her team an early lead.

"When Livs' aggressive like that, she's really tough to stop, and she was," continued Taylor. "But she had a controlled aggression, which is smart. She took a lot of shots, but I don't think there was ever a bad one. It was great to see."

The Heat clawed their way back with a pair of threes and a healthy mix of defensive intensity, temporarily giving them a three-point lead. That was short-lived as UBC's Sara Toneguzzi replied with a side-step three-pointer of her own to even things up at 14 apiece. Both sides went back and forth for the rest of the frame until the Heat finished on a buzzer-beating jump shot to narrow the deficit to two, with UBC holding a 21-19 lead heading into the second.



The physical intensity between both sides grew, and the battle for rebounds was consistent. The Heat began swarming the T-Birds on both ends in the second quarter, but this is where Cerys Merton shined. The fourth-year UBC guard continued to be an energizer, finding herself at the heart of every loose ball. This sparked the offence near the end of the half and led to the 'Birds finishing on an 11-3 run to secure a 34-26 lead at the half.

Coming out of the break, Weekes continued to be on a mission for UBC, scoring six of the team's first ten points as the 'Birds began to dictate the pace, the lead began to swell eventually going up by 17. However, as the third began to wind down, the Heat responded with back-to-back threes to keep the game at arm's length, narrowing UBC's lead to 11 points with score showing 54-43 to end the third frame.

"They hit a couple of tough shots, that doesn't bother me. If you play good D, sometimes teams just hit stuff, right?" reflected Taylor. "At times, we were really good defensively. Two of the quarters we held them to single digits, which is what we want to do more often."



The battles for loose balls continued in the fourth, leading to a low-scoring start. Yet, through Toneguzzi's play making, Merton's defensive prowess, and Weekes' scoring touch, the T-Birds limited the Heat's chances while sinking their own to put this one out of reach and earn a 70-49 win.

Weekes led all scorers with 30 points and added nine rebounds, while Cerys Merton showed out on defence, racking up six steals on the night. Both Tsuki Tsuzuki and Lily Pink posted double-digit nights for UBC Okanagan with 11 and ten points, respectively, while Tennyson McCarthy and Sydney Lewis each collected three blocks in the loss.

After an upcoming bye week, the Thunderbirds will return to action on the road, facing off against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies for a back-to-back duel. The first game is set to tip off at 4:00 p.m. on Friday November. 21, while the following matchup will take place on Saturday November, 22 at 3:00 p.m. PT.