VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds handed the Calgary Dinos their first loss of the season Friday night at War Memorial Gym. The Thunderbirds pounded the boards and shot 48% from the field as they cruised to a 70-58 victory.
BOX SCORE
Leigh Stansfield (Victoria, BC) led the way with a double-double 21 points and 10 rebounds, both game highs.
Kris Young (North Vancouver, BC) followed up with 18 points and nine boards, shooting an efficient 7-11 from the floor.
Jessica Franz and Tamara Jarrett had 13 points apiece for the Dinos.
WBB: T-Birds v. Calgary (Nov. 30, 2012) Gallery
UBC looked a bit flustered by Calgary's in-your-face defence, giving up 18 first-half turnovers, twice as many as Calgary. Despite this, the Thunderbirds walked off for halftime with a 31-27 advantage thanks to a 23-14 edge in rebounding and 46% shooting from the floor.
“Calgary's a little bit of a different team with the way they put pressure on and they take advantage of their athleticism. Even though we prepared for it all week they were able to get us losing our composure at times,” said UBC head coach
Deb Huband, who admitted that she was quite surprised to be up at the half with all of those turnovers.
Calgary came back out in the second half using a trapping defence and got off to a quick 8-0 run. The Thunderbirds didn't put up any points until
Adrienne Parkin (Vancouver) split a pair of free throws three minutes in. The Thunderbirds soon found their rhythm again, with Young in particular coming alive for 12 points in the third quarter. With seconds remaining, Parkin's block on a Calgary drive sparked a UBC fast break.
Stephanie Bell (North Vancouver, BC) hit a layup at the buzzer to give put UBC up by 10, their largest lead thus far.
The Thunderbirds carried this momentum into the final quarter, and back-to-back 3-balls by Parkin and
Alyssa Binns (Port Moody, BC) had them up 16 early on. The lead grew to 17 with two minutes remaining, prompting Huband to put in her reserves and give her starters a rest.
The Thunderbirds finished the game with a massive rebounding margin, hauling down 19 more boards than the Dinos. The collective effort paid off. “We wanted to make sure we won the rebounding margin. That was one of our keys to the game,” said Huband.
Rebounding was a strength of UBC's earlier in the season, and at one point they were leading the conference. But when rebounding machine Tori Spangehl (White Rock, BC) went out with a knee injury, things started to drop off. “(With Tori out) we've been asking everybody to get one or two more rebounds a game to help our team rebounding. If you do the right things and get after the ball, you're gonna be rewarded,” Huband said.
UBC had 47 boards in the end, and nearly had three players with double digits. Parkin and Young each had nine to go along with Stansfield's ten. Parkin also dished out a game-high four assists and had three blocked shots. The second-year forward has worked her way into the starting lineup and tonight logged 33 minutes of playing time. She had a great offseason, and Huband credits her as UBC's most improved player, even with having to adjust to a new position this year.
“Adrienne's stepped up tremendously, she's doing a lot of things for us. Every week you see a positive change in her. We're asking her to play a slightly different position this year, so she's playing the 3 and the 4 for us, so that's a little bit more on her plate,” said the coach.
Stansfield continued to attack inside as she's done so well over the past couple weekends. She was unfazed by the physicality of Franz's aggressive defence. She took some hard knocks, but luckily she had her mouthguard back in for tonight's game. Relieved, she said “It just happened to be a coincidence that I got it back tonight. I didn't have it for a long time because I really don't like wearing it, but it was probably a good thing that I had it for tonight.”
The fifth-year veteran is feeling more confident than ever. Giving credit to her teammates, she said “I think because my teammates trust me and they're pounding the ball inside, I'm getting a lot of really nice looks and that's helping my confidence a lot.”
Stansfield hopes to lead the Thunderbirds to finishing 2012 on a high note. Now sitting a 6-3 this season, they'll be back tomorrow night to face the Lethbridge Pronghorns. Tip-off is at 5 p.m. Pacific at War Memorial Gym.
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