Whatever the UBC women’s basketball team is doing to win, they’ve chosen a good time to do it. They kicked off the weekend by thrashing the University of Manitoba 85-49 in a jam-packed War Memorial Gym for their 10th straight win, en route to a first place finish in the Canada West conference and a bye to the semifinals.
The streak didn’t end there; they continued with a 69-61 win over the Bison on Saturday night. The ‘Birds looked confident in their ability on Valentine’s Day, shooting 48 per cent from the field in the opening half. The Thunderbirds took advantage of their post presence; Harlene Sidhu dominated and made a huge contribution to UBC's 38 points down low.
However, it wasn’t until the end of the first half when the Thunderbirds began to pull away, outscoring the Bisons 21-11.
Stephanie Gill, of the University of Manitoba had a very strong game; working hard to make her presence known on both sides of the court, being a pest on defence, and showing a nice touch on offence, going 4-7 from beyond the arc to finish the game with 15 points.
Late in the game the Bisons made a push against a Thunderbird squad that finally began to show signs of shaking. Vanessa DeVries was a force to be reckoned with on the boards; she gobbled up 11 rebounds, including four in the offensive end. The University of Manitoba ended the fourth quarter by outscoring the ‘Birds 19-9, but it was too little, too late.
No matter the score, the final story of the night was Kris Young’s last regular season game as a member of the UBC Thunderbirds. One of the greatest UBC basketball players to don blue and gold ended the game with 22 points in 30 minutes.
This Thunderbird team could not have chosen a better time to build a 10 game winning streak. This being the last game of the regular season, they look to continue this sharp play in the playoffs; which will be hosted at War Memorial Gym beginning Friday, February 27.
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