VANCOUVER – The No.8 nationally ranked UBC Thunderbirds (13-4) fought off a determined UNBC Timberwolves (1-16) and dominated the defensive end to secure a decisive 81-48 victory to open a weekend series at War Memorial Gym on Friday night. With three games left in the regular season, UBC is in a tight race for the top spot in the Pacific Division and guaranteed home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
 
Olivia Weekes led the way for the Thunderbirds, scoring 24 points on an efficient eight of 12 shooting. Sofia Bergman and Brooke Wagner both reached double figures with 11 points apiece, while Cassie Joli-Coeur had a strong all-around game with nine points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Victoria Filatova led UNBC with 20 points for the Timberwolves.
 
"I think it was a fairly textbook UBC T-Birds victory for about 25 minutes but I don't think our second quarter was great," said UBC head coach Dave Taylor. "We are playing a lot better and when we look good we look really really good our challenge now is to just take care of the details so that we look good for the whole game."


 
After jumping out to a 18-6 lead after the first quarter thanks to forcing 12 Timberwolves turnovers, UBC saw UNBC respond and cut the lead to 37-30 at the half. Looking to set the tone, UBC's full court defence forced another 11 turnovers in the third quarter. Kiera Kelly came off the bench to hit back-to-back three pointers and UBC outscored UNBC 19-2 to build a 56-32 lead. The T-Birds continued to increase the pressure in the fourth quarter, utilizing strong post-to-post passing and drives to the hoop to secure the 81-48 victory.
 
UBC dominated the inside, outrebounding UNBC 45-29, including 25 offensive rebounds and scoring 40 points from inside the paint. The Thunderbirds shared the ball well, collecting 19 assists on 26 made field goals. The 'Birds were dogged on defence forcing 32 total turnovers and converting those steals into 27 points overall while the hosts also enjoyed a total team effort with 37 points off the bench compared to 12 for the T-Wolves.


 
"That was one of our goals to create turnovers, which we thought we could do," added Thomas. "But we also wanted to capitalize on them which we did and as far as the depth scoring, our strength is our collective we don't rely on one or two players and that's why I said we have to collectively play well for the full 40 minutes. I was happy with most of the game but late January we need to make sure we're playing more consistent all the time to get where we want to go.
 
The Thunderbirds will honour eight players tomorrow night as Senior Weekend continues against UNBC. Tip-off is at 4:00 p.m and you can catch all the action on Canada West TV.