KELOWNA, B.C. – The UBC Okanagan Heat women's basketball team is set to make its third consecutive appearance in the Canada West playoffs as they get set to meet the Trinity Western Spartans in the opening round of the 2024 Canada West Championship tournament on Wednesday, February 21 in Abbotsford, B.C.
 
Tipoff in the first-round matchup is set for 8 p.m. at the UFV Athletic Centre. Tickets are available online or fans can catch the action live on CanadaWest.tv.
 
The Heat enter their first-round contest playing their best basketball of the season. UBCO has won four consecutive games heading into the post-season, and six of their past eight overall, with only two losses coming at the hands of the second-seeded UBC Thunderbirds by a combined six points.
 
Meanwhile, after a hot start to the season, the Spartans cooled off in the second half of the year, winning just four of their final 12 games and enter the playoffs on a two-game losing streak after being swept by the third-seeded UFV Cascades two weekends ago.
 
A pair of Canada West second-team all-stars will take center stage on Wednesday night in the Heat's Jaeli Ibbetson of Kelowna, B.C., and the Spartans' Jayden Gill of Abbotsford, B.C.
 
Ibbetson, a fourth-year forward, proved herself to be one of the top players in the conference this season as she finished in the Top 4 for scoring (17.7 PPG), rebounding (12.7 RPG) and assists (4.0 APG). The reigning Canada West and U SPORTS women's basketball player of the week will need another big performance on Wednesday if she is to help her team earn their first-ever Canada West playoff victory.
 
Meanwhile, Gill, a fourth-year guard, finished just behind Ibbetson in the Canada West scoring race, averaging 17.3 points per game as the top scoring option for Trinity Western. However, Gill can also get it done on the defensive side of the ball as she recorded a team-high 28 blocks and 46 steals this season.
 
Ibbetson won't be the only name to watch for the Heat as the team's big three is rounded out by fellow forward Kelsey Falk of Vernon, B.C., and guard Sofia Ainsa Lluch of Mahon, Spain. Falk averaged 11.3 points per game but is most known for her ability to get on the offensive glass as the fourth-year ranks sixth all-time in Canada West history for offensive rebounds after pulling down 92 this season.
 
As for Ainsa Lluch, the fifth-year guard playing in her final playoff run has been a difference maker down the stretch for the Heat, averaging nearly 14 points per game over the team's last eight contests.
 
Wednesday's matchup marks the first time these two teams will have squared off this season as the Heat and Spartans didn't meet during regular season play. Their last meeting came in January of 2023 when the two teams split a weekend series in Langley, B.C., thanks to a 77-69 UBCO victory with both Ibbetson and Falk finishing with 20-plus points in the win.