Photo credit Yan Doublet
QUEBEC CITY (CIS) – Just as in the Canada West conference final, the UBC Thunderbirds were once again triumphant over the Saskatchewan Huskies on Sunday at the PEPS Gym of Université Laval. The T-Birds’ 73-61 win earned them the bronze medal at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS Women’s Basketball Championship.
Nose-to-nose with the Huskies after three quarters, UBC almost doubled their opponents (24-13) in the last 10 minutes. UBC had already beaten their rivals in the Canada West championship final a week ago by a score of 69-68. Finalist in their last appearance in 2012, UBC once again makes the podium. This is the program’s ninth medal in team history, after six gold and two silver.
“I am really proud with the way the girls came out and battled. It's always nice to finish a season on a win. It is a tough game to play,” said Deb Huband, coach of the bronze medalist Thunderbirds. “Both teams are disappointed of their performances yesterday. It was an opportunity to come back on the floor and have some fun and compete. It shows determination and heart and I think both teams showed of lot of that this morning.”
The Huskies leave Quebec City with a fourth place finish, the same result as last year. Saskatchewan missed out on the opportunity to win the program’s third medal at a national tourney. They were finalists in 2011 and had won the bronze in 2009.
“UBC gave us a lot of matchups problems. They did a good job attacking the middle of our zone”, said Huskies coach Lisa Thomaidis. “Kris Young is tough to stop one-on-one. We got back to just one point after third quarter and we just had to win the fourth, but I thought it took too much out of us to get back within one point. Full credit to them.”
Early in the game it was UBC who came out firing as they took an early 9-2 lead. The Huskies managed to narrow the score only for the Thunderbirds to score six unanswered points bringing their lead to 20-11 after the first quarter.
The second frame was marked by a duel of three-point shooting. Saskatchewan used it to mount a run, including a span of 27 seconds where Kabree Howard (Saskatchewan), Kris Young (UBC) and Laura Dally (Saskatchewan) exchanged successive shots from downtown. At this point the Thunderbirds led 27-25.
Having increased their lead to 40-31 with 14 seconds left, another three-pointer, this time by Huskies third-year guard Desarae Hogberg, reduced the deficit to six heading into halftime.
As the third quarter tipped off the Huskies continued to press, outscoring the T-Birds 14-9 in the quarter. Saskatchewan guard Dally registered six points in the quarter bringing her game total to 19, the most of both teams at the time. As we entered the fourth, UBC was up only by one.
Once the fourth started, the Thunderbirds turned on the scoring. Harleen Sidhu scored six of her 16 points within the first two minutes, while Kris Young scored eight of her game-high 25 points in the fourth. With both players scoring well above double figures UBC had no trouble closing out the game and taking home the bronze medal with a 73-61 victory.
STAT LEADERS
UBC 20-20-9-24:73
SSK 11-23-14-13: 61
UBC
Points: Kris Young (25), Harleen Sidhu (16), Adrienne Parkin (14)
Rebounds: Harleen Sidhu (11), Kris Young (7), Kara Spotton (5)
Assists: Cherub Lum (6)
Player of the game: Kris Young
Saskatchewan
Points: Laura Dally (21), Kelsey Trulsrud (13), Desarae Hogberg (9)
Rebounds: Kelsey Trulsrud (14), Dalyce Emmerson (8)
Assists: Desarae Hogberg (3), Dalyce Emmerson (3), Kabree Howard (3)
Player of the game: Kelsey Trulsrud
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Thursday, March 12
12:30 Quarter-final 1: No. 3 McGill 67, No. 6 Saint Mary’s 59
14:30 Quarter-final 2: No. 2 UBC 81, No. 7 Ryerson 59
18:00 Quarter-final 3: No. 1 Windsor 91, No. 8 Laval 57
20:00 Quarter-final 4: No. 4 Saskatchewan 70, No. 5 Alberta 63
Friday, March 13
18:00 Consolation 1: No. 7 Ryerson 76, No. 6 Saint Mary’s 60
20:00 Consolation 2: No. 5 Alberta 62, No. 8 Laval 50
Saturday, March 14
12:00 Semifinal 1: No. 3 McGill 59, No. 2 UBC 57
14:30 Semifinal 2: No. 1 Windsor 75, No. 4 Saskatchewan 61
16:30 5th-place game: No. 5 Alberta 73, No. 7 Ryerson 65
Sunday, March 15
10:00 Bronze: No. 2 UBC 73, No. 4 Saskatchewan 61
13:00 Final: No. 3 McGill vs. No. 1 Windsor (Sportsnet 360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *
* The ENGLISH webcast of the semifinals & final are on pay-per-view basis. The French webcast is free.