The UBC women’s basketball team look to be back on a roll. The team picked up two wins against the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Timberwolves this past weekend.
On Friday evening, 1,418 fans filled the War Memorial Gym to see the ’Birds beat the Timberwolves 75-59.
Maddison Penn led UBC's scoring with a total of 19 points. Fifth-year forward Kara Spotton and fourth-year guard Shilpa Khanna followed with 16 and 13 points respectively. The ’Birds also combined for a team total of 19 steals and they took advantage by scoring a whopping 37 points off turnovers.
Saturday’s game saw the Timberwolves return with a vengeance. They outscored the T-Birds in the first and second quarters by a total of eight points for the half. The ’Birds stayed resilient, however, and kept the Timberwolves to only nine points in the third quarter. They maintained their 17 points in the quarter as they retook the lead going into the final stretch.
The fourth quarter was a tough battle between the provincial rivals. It was the ’Birds who came out on top after scoring 23 points and winning the contest by the close margin of 76-72. Andrea Strujic, Jessica Hanson, Shilpa Khanna and Kara Spotton each recorded more than 10 points. The ’Birds improved to a 14-4 conference record and a four-game winning streak.
The team will get some time to recover, as they will play again in the Vancouver area next weekend. Their opponents will be the Trinity Western University Spartans in Langley.
Those two games will also be the final regular season games for the team. After that, it will be the Canada West playoffs. The ’Birds will aim to continue their success in the hopes of advancing to the U Sports national championships in Victoria.