VANCOUVER – The U SPORTS No.6-ranked UBC Thunderbirds (14-2) are playing their final regular season home games this weekend when they host the UBCO Heat (6-10) for back-to-back battles at War Memorial Gym. Friday's game is set to start at 5:30 p.m. (PT) and Saturday's will begin at 4:00 p.m. (PT) with the team recognizing its graduating senior class before Saturday's tip-off.
Three players are expected to move on from the team after this season:
Emily Martindale,
Jessica Clarke and
Katrina Fink.
Martindale is 15
th in UBC history in regular season three-pointers and will imminently crack the top-40 in all-time regular season field goals made. Assuming she appears in all four remaining regular season games, the fifth-year sharpshooter will be top-20 in program history in both games and minutes played, while sitting just outside the top 10 in games started.
"Emily came back for another year to do her masters in occupational therapy, so she's really been balancing a lot school-wise to keep being a student athlete for us in what would be her sixth year as a Thunderbird," said UBC head coach Isabel Ormond. "She's provided awesome mentorship and leadership over her whole time with the program."
Clarke has been very impactful in her lone season with UBC, currently sitting second in Canada West in field goal percentage, first in rebounds per minute and seventh in points per minute. The 6'4 NCAA DI transfer is also third in blocks per minute, while providing an inside presence that has changed the complexion of the T-Birds on both ends of the court.
"Jessica has been with us for just one year after transferring from Washington State but has made a huge impact on and off the court for our team," praised Ormond. "She's always making people laugh and always bringing a high level of compete to our practices."
Katrina Fink has been a part of the Thunderbirds women's basketball since 2020, but has not suited up for the blue and gold since the 2022-23 season due to injury. She appeared in most regular season games for UBC between 2021-2023, shooting over 30% from three in her final campaign. The 6'0 guard is in her fourth academic year completing an undergraduate degree in Kinesiology.
"Kat suffered a lot of injuries over her time with the program but still managed to give her heart to the group and her teammates in whatever capacity she could," commented Ormond. "That is always hard to do when you're not on the court as much as you'd like, so we really appreciate her spirit and her presence with our group for as long as she's been a Thunderbird."
The T-Birds are coming off of a three-game rivalry road trip that saw them drop an overtime matchup in Victoria before coming back to the Lower Mainland and winning back-to-back games against Trinity Western in Langley. Both tilts against the Spartans were close going into the fourth quarter, before the 'Birds pulled away to win each game by 13+ points.
"Trinity gave us a really good battle, so it was a good chance to work on our composure under pressure and under stress," reflected Ormond. "It was great preparation for all the big playoff games we have coming up and for nationals."
The T-Birds have clinched a top-two spot in Canada West's Pacific Division and are therefore guaranteed to host a neutral site play-in game and then play the winner in a quarterfinal at War Memorial Gym over the February 21-23 weekend.
The 'Birds have the clear inside track to the Pacific Division regular season title, needing just one win in their final four games or a single loss by UFV to clinch first.
Their opponents from the Okanagan are in a different place in the standings, but still control their own fate as far as making a play-in game. UBCO is in the fifth and final Pacific Division post-season position, two games up on UNBC, meaning that taking even one victory at War Gym would go a long way to ensuring that they qualify for the play-in.
The Heat are winners of three of their last four games, coming off of a pair of blowout victories over Thompson Rivers. UBCO is one of the top offensive rebounding teams in Canada West, sitting third, right behind the T-Birds, in that category.
"They've been playing very hard and they've had a lot of really close games and tight losses against good opponents, but they're also coming off of a few big wins over the last couple of weeks," commented Ormond. "A big thing for us to deal with is their rebounding and they've also been doing a lot with their full court pressure. We're really focused on trying to take care of the basketball and breaking that press so that we can get into our offensive actions."
Tickets for this weekend's games may still be available
here. Stream all of the action, live or on demand, on
Canada West TV.
