VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds had their nine-game win streak snapped tonight by the No. 2-ranked Regina Cougars. The two sides traded lengthy scoring runs at various points in the game, but Regina pulled away in the end for a 63-53 win.
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Cougars center Brittany Read (Regina, SK) overpowered inside, leading her team with 17 points on nearly 50 percent shooting and hauling down 13 boards. Michelle Clark (Westlake Village, California) was dynamic and explosive at the point, aggressively blowing right by Thunderbirds defenders as she added nine points and ten rebounds. Forward Megan Chamberlin (Regina, SK) also added ten points.
UBC got off to a hot start and had a lead early on before slipping to a four point deficit at the end of the first. They were down by ten half way through the second quarter, but pulled themselves back up to within two points at half time. In fact, there was nearly a ten minute stretch of game time without a point for the Cougars as the Thunderbirds reclaimed the lead at the start of the second half.
Then it was the Cougars turn to go on a run, and they held a 48-41 advantage at the end of the third, despite eight points in the quarter by Thunderbirds shooting guard
Cassandra Knievel (Nanaimo, BC), who would finish with ten on the night. UBC was resilient and came back again in the fourth before the giving the Cougars a series of easy layups and letting the game slip away.
The Thunderbirds were off the mark tonight, shooting a collective 28 percent from the floor while letting Cougars hit 42 percent of their shots. The experienced Cougars bench also outscored UBC's 26 points to seven.
“I think on an off-shooting night like we had, our defence gave us a chance to win. We gave up too many points in that third quarter, but other than that I thought our defence was pretty tight. There's not too many nights were you're going to be shooting 28 percent. We had some nice open looks but we just didn't put them down,” explained UBC head coach
Deb Huband.
Kris Young (North Vancouver, BC) had a team-high 18 points on 7-16 shooting for UBC. She also grabbed four offensive rebounds, and coach Huband gave her credit for “really trying to lead out there on the floor.”
Huband was also impressed with
Victoria Spangehl (White Rock, BC), who was “outstanding on the boards” with nine rebounds, five of them on the offensive glass.
Tonight's loss drops UBC to a 10-4 record this season, while Regina continues to sit atop the Prairie Division at 12-2. Although it obviously wasn't the outcome UBC had hoped for, Huband believes it was a good experience for her young group and was pleased that they battled really hard. “I liked a lot of what I saw. Hopefully we're not gonna shoot the ball that badly next time we're gonna play against an opponent like this. We'll get them in the playoffs,” she said.
With eight games to go in the regular season, the Thunderbirds will hit the road next weekend for a double-header against UBC Okanagan. Game times will be 6 p.m. and 5 p.m. respectively on Friday and Saturday night in Kelowna. Both will be streamed live at www.canadawest.tv.
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