For you, tonight just might your last night of the homework-free bliss of reading week. For Diana Lee and Adrienne Parkin, it's so much more.
Lee and Parkin are both fifth-year athletes on the Thunderbirds women's basketball team and tonight is senior night. If things don't go well, it could be the pair's last basketball game ever. But if Lee and Parkin have any say in the matter, the team will be playing for a few more weeks in the Canada West Championships.
Last night, Lee netted 32 of UBC's 77 points to beat the University of Winnipeg. A win tonight would secure the ’Birds a spot in the playoffs and a loss could mean the end of Lee and Parkin's careers.
“We want to focus on the game, then we can focus on the event afterwards. We have to get this win — or else.”
Lee and Parkin have taken very different paths to find their place with the T-Birds. Both are from the Greater Vancouver area, but Lee — a Master's of Kinesiology student — played for Boise State University for three years, finishing her degree in a fourth.
“I had a little injury in there for about a year and came back,” explained Lee.
“A little?” Parkin interjected.
“I had two herniated discs in my back. I tried to rehab it, but it didn't really work. So I ended up getting surgery,” said Lee. “I moved back home [to North Vancouver], decided I wanted to give basketball another shot, gave Deb [Huband] a phone call and ended up here.”
Parkin, who played for Kitsilano Secondary before coming to UBC, has been a T-Bird for her whole collegiate career. She will be graduating with a undergraduate degree in kinesiology.
But both athletes aren't thinking about graduation or post-graduation life just yet. Today is all about winning just one more game and qualifying for the playoffs.
“I try not to think about it too much — I'm just going out there and playing. It's starting to hit me now that it is senior night and I've had to write a speech and do all those different things. For the most part, I try to keep it out of my mind,” said Lee. “We're not done yet. We want to go as far as we can.”
Between the two ’Birds, they've spent 10 years playing collegiate basketball in two countries, played two years on the Canadian Junior National Team and won Canadian national championships with the BC provincial team.
One of their favourite memories together was winning the Canada West championship at home in 2015.
“If you were at that game, it was insane,” recalled Lee. “War Memorial was packed, we were down by four [points] with under a minute left.”
“She passed me the ball,” said Parkin. “She shot a three to put us down by one. We fouled [and] the girl missed both of her free throws. We got the ball back and Kris Young scores a layup and we win the game. We led that whole game for maybe a total of two minutes. It was just an outrageous ... memory for me.”
Parkin is unsure of whether she will give professional basketball in a Europe a go or not and is looking into going back to graduate school in kinesiology or heading to law school. Lee wants to coach, though not professionally, and isn't certain about her future plans.
“This weekend, it really kind of got to me. We've been playing basketball since before grade eight and to think now that we're not going to be playing in a month is crazy and exciting — and also a little bit scary.”
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