Abbotsford – The UFV Cascades women’s basketball team (6-3) succumbed to the UBC Thunderbirds (7-2) by a score of 56-54 tonight at the Envision Athletic Centre in a closely contested battle for first place in the Pacific Division of the Canada West. With the loss the Cascades extend their slide to three, while UBC extends their own streak to three wins. UFV is currently ranked sixth in the CIS top ten, while UBC is unranked.
The Cascades held UBC to three points in the opening six minutes of the game, before a rush of fouls and poor UFV shooting helped the Thunderbirds close the gap. The quarter ended with UFV up only by two, 13-11, and UBC stars Kris Young and Harleen Sidhu beginning to show their quality.
The second quarter continued in a similar fashion, and the two teams entered halftime tied at 23 apiece. UFV went 0-12 from downtown in the first half, and shot only 27 percent from the field, while UBC achieved an impressive 13-14 from the free throw line. Kayli Sartori was the UFV standout of the half with seven points and four rebounds.
UBC used the height of forwards Harleen Sidhu (6-2) and Andrea Strujic (6-3) to cause UFV problems all game long, lobbing the ball inside to capitalize on their advantage. Still, UFV’s conference-leading defense kept the Thunderbirds from pulling ahead, and limited star guard Kris Young to 4-20 from the field. Cascades Sarah Wierks (10 points), Kayli Sartori (13 points) and Nicole Wierks (14 points) all scored into double-digits. UBC’s Harleen Sidhu registered a double-double with 18 points and ten rebounds on the night.
UFV and UBC will meet again tomorrow night at the EAC at 5:00 pm, giving the Cascades a chance for redemption and providing UBC the opportunity to solidify their hold on the Pacific Division.
“I thought the girls played hard tonight, but if you shoot the ball 30 percent from the field you’re not going to beat a team like UBC,” said Cascades head coach Al Tuchscherer.
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