VANCOUVER, B.C. – It's been five years since the UBC Thunderbirds have seen the Canada West semifinals and a full decade since they last hosted the game at War Memorial Gym. The world has changed a lot since then, as has the style of the T-Birds. Gone are the teams from the early 2020s that would grind down opponents with waves of subs and slug out low-scoring affairs. This era of UBC women's basketball is explosive, consistent, tantalizingly multi-dimensional and just plain fun.
These No.2-seed 'Birds (18-2) will be hosting the No.3-seed University of Alberta Pandas (18-2) in a battle between two of the three teams that tied for the best record in the Canada West regular season. Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday at War Gym.
Newly named Canada West First-Team All-Star
Mona Berlitz and Second-Team All-Star
Olivia Weekes headline a deep group of talented players, which include conference all-rookie team selection
Keira Daly, bruising forward
Jessica Clarke and tenacious guard
Cerys Merton. Berlitz and Daly finished first and second in points per minute in Canada West, Merton led the conference in steals per minute, while no one had more rebounds per minute than Clarke.
The reason UBC's stars' numbers jump out more per minute than in total is because the team has reached a new level of dominance in the second half of the season that has often let them rest their starters for long stretches in the second half of games. Since the calendar flipped to 2025, the T-Birds have gone 11-1, with all of their wins coming by 13+ points. In those 11 victories the 'Birds did not allow a single opponent to reach 70 points while only scoring fewer than 70 once, they stopped at 69 in a dominant 30-point win over fellow Canada West semifinalist UFV.
"We've always been focused on what's next, what do we need to work on, what's upcoming, what are we dealing with around the current game," said UBC head coach Isabel Ormond, when asked about her team's supreme second half.
"We could do a little bit more celebrating those milestones, but I also think that's part of what's making us so competitive. We're always hungry to do better, keep going, and keep building on the success that we've had without being satisfied with it. I think it's about finding that balance when you're coaching high performance teams."
Most recently, the blue and gold comfortably handled their business by smothering a high-scoring Regina Cougars team 77-55 in the conference quarter-finals. The score makes the contest appear closer than it was as the T-Birds built up a 17-point lead at the end of the first quarter and a 25-point lead by halftime before cruising to victory from there. Among the impressive aspects of that performance was the 'Birds ability to hold Canada West's leading scorer, Jade Belmore, to 2-12 shooting and a quiet 12 points.
"We came out with great energy," reflected Ormond. "I think it really came down to the start of the game for us and then maintaining that focus throughout. Prepping for Regina, which will be similar for Alberta, involved a lot of focus on player tendencies. The way we were able to dial in on who Jade Belmore is, who Cara Misskey is, I thought helped give us that edge as we were totally locked in on scout, something we are hoping we can keep doing through this week and nationals."
While the Cougars may have been a star-driven squad, balance is the name of the game for the Alberta Pandas. Despite their 18-2 record, the Pandas do not feature a top 15 scorer in the conference. The 2023 Canada West Champions are currently on a 17-game winning streak and do have two all-stars of their own: sharpshooter Annacy Palmer was named to the first team after shooting 40% from three this season while leading her team in points per game and forward Claire Signatovich made the third team after finishing second in the conference with 9.5 rebounds per game.
The T-Birds and Pandas have not matched up for a regular season or playoff game since they split a two-game series at War Gym in late 2022, in which Coach Ormond was on the visitors' bench as Alberta's lead assistant.
"Alberta matches our size a lot more than some teams that we've seen recently," mused Ormond. "They have two really strong starting forwards, which is not something we've encountered too often. They're very balanced, a lot of full court pressure, strong in transition. I expect a pretty fast-paced game that might come down to who can take care of the ball better and execute on the offensive end."
The other Canada West semifinal has No.4-seed UFV visiting No.1-seed Saskatchewan, with tip-off set to take place right after the T-Birds' semifinal ends, at 5:00 p.m. (PT). The highest remaining seed between the two semifinal winners will host the other winner in a single-game conference championship the following weekend. Then, from March 13-16, UBC hosts
The 2025 INDOCHINO U SPORTS Women's and Men's Final 8 Basketball Championships presented by Victory Creative Group.
Tickets for this weekend's semifinal may still be available
here. For those who cannot attend, all Canada West playoff action is available live or on demand on
Canada West TV – presented by BioSteel.
Tickets for the U SPORTS Basketball Championships can be purchased
here.
