VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds led the game wire-to-wire Saturday night, completing a weekend sweep over the visiting Mount Royal Cougars. With Leigh Stansfield (Victoria, BC) and Kris Young (North Vancouver, BC) leading with 17 points apiece, the Thunderbirds cruised to a 79-40 victory. It was a total team effort though, with every player contributing points and rebounds tonight.



The Thunderbirds shot a collective 47.5 percent for the floor while holding the Cougars to just 23.7 percent. They also had a massive rebounding edge (51-28) over the Cougars, led by Tori Spangehl's (White Rock, BC) double-double effort of 11 points and 12 boards. Cougar Guard Hilary Annich (St. Albert, AB) had a team-high 11 points while fifth-year forward Annalise Posein (Okotoks, AB) led with seven boards.
 
Stansfield got her senior night started with the game's opening bucket, but struggled early on and got into a bit of foul trouble. Young started to heat up in the second quarter as UBC went on a 16-5 run through the first four minutes. She finished the half with nine points, more than she had all night yesterday. When Cassandra Knievel (Nanaimo, BC) missed a free throw with less than a second remaining on the clock, Spangehl pulled down the offensive board and hit a buzzer-beating put-back. She had nine boards in the first half alone and the Birds walked off with a 36-18 halftime advantage.

"I honestly think that rebounding is one of my biggest things that I bring to the floor, so that's one of my focuses," said Spangehl.

Although she's not always the tallest player out on the court, Spangehl out-hustles those around her, and the fourth-year forward attacks the glass every night knowing that she can always get involved in the game that way. She thinks rebounding is all about your attitude and who will battle the most.

"If I'm not having a good game scoring-wise or on a defensive standpoint, I always know that I can go to the boards and get rewarded. Deb always talks about how important they are, so I do see that as my role on the team to try to go after the boards every single time. It's just that mentality that helps me."

With a comfortable lead in the fourth, Huband sat Young, the leading scorer, and the Thunderbirds kept feeding Stansfield, who would also leave with five minutes still remaining. She was given a standing ovation after racking up 17 points, tying Young for the game-high on her Senior Night.

"It always feels good (to get the game-high), and you know there's a little bit of pressure," Stansfield said of her Senior Night.

"I had a tough first half, but my teammates kinda helped me get out of that in the second half and get refocused and playing like I know I can. They were feeding me a lot and really helping me get out of my own head," the veteran added of her teammates.

Stansfield was also pleased to see everybody get on the scoreboard tonight, with Andrea Strujic (Vancouver, BC) making both her free throws with 10 seconds remaining in the game to complete the lineup.

"When you're up that much, it's good to see everybody get an opportunity to play and have everybody contribute."

Head coach Deb Huband suggested that it was UBC's defensive intensity that allowed more players to get involved. UBC also showed a lot more rapid-fire ball movement and quickness than we usually see.

"I think when we come out with intensity and we guard the way we did tonight, good things happen. We ran the floor better and our stops and defensive rebounds allowed us to get into transition. When we do thatm we start flowing and we feel a little bit more liberal with subbing and everybody gets a chance to feel like they are a part of it on the floor," the coach explained.

"It stems from our intensity and competing harder for the rebounds. Last night we were kinda surprised by their tenacity at getting after the loose balls, but tonight we brought that ourselves and it opened the game up for us. We wanted to get some tempo out of our back court because sometimes we stall, but tonight that was one of our focuses to try and advance the ball on the pass and get the ball moving, sharing it and having everybody touch it on each possession," Huband added.

Tonight's result improves the Thunderbirds' record to 14-4 this season, while the Cougars slip to 5-13. With four regular season games remaining, the Thunderbirds will head north next weekend to visit the UNBC Timberwolves. The Cougars will return home to Calgary to host the Victoria Vikes.