KELOWNA, B.C. — The UBCO Heat women's basketball team (6-6) settled for a weekend split with the U SPORTS No. 8-ranked UBC Thunderbirds (6-4) following a 64-50 loss on Saturday at the UBCO Gymnasium.
The visitors commanded the boards with a 47-38 advantage, and despite the Heat's 16 second-chance points, they couldn't catch up to UBC's 34 paint points.
Lily Pink led the way offensively with 12 points, hitting one 3-pointer and converting 5 of 6 free throws, alongside six rebounds.
Sydney Lewis delivered 12 rebounds, a new career-high mark for the first-year forward, including five on the offensive end, while adding four points.
Tennyson McCarthy chipped in with six points and seven rebounds, adding two blocks.
Kanani Coon drained three 3-pointers for nine points, also dishing out four assists.
Olivia Weekes led the Thunderbirds with 17 points and 11 rebounds, converting 7 of 15 field goals. Jaeli Ibbetson dominated the boards with 15 rebounds, nine offensive, and added nine points.
UBC erupted for a 25-12 lead in the first quarter by smothering UBCO defensively and scoring 16 points in the paint. The Heat's seven turnovers allowed UBC to convert them into nine points. UBCO struggled to contain UBC's seven offensive rebounds, which helped the visitors to seize control early.
The Heat narrowed the gap in the second quarter, making use of second-chance points to outscore UBC in this category 10-2. Despite shooting struggles with five out of 21 field goals, Pink's 3-pointer and a layup helped close the gap before UBC extended their lead to 16 points. At halftime, the score was UBC 38, UBCO 28.
In the third quarter, UBC strengthened their lead by capitalizing on UBCO's turnovers for six points, while outscoring the Heat 14-9. UBCO's limited scoring opportunities resulted in only four of 14 converted field goals. The Thunderbirds' dominance on the boards, including six offensive rebounds, allowed them to maintain their advantage, ending the quarter at 52-37.
The final quarter saw the Heat slightly outscore UBC 13-12, pulling down an 11-9 rebounding edge and converting second-chance points with four paint points. However, UBC's timely 3-pointer at 1:02 iced the game.
UBCO will now break for the holidays sitting in fourth-place in the Canada West Pacific division standings. The team will resume their push for the playoffs when they travel to Kamloops on Friday, January 9 to battle their rivals the Thompson Rivers WolfPack. The two teams will decide the winner of the women's Presidents' Cup trophy with a pair of contests and each university owning a 2-2-1 record so far in the competition.
Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. and fans can catch the action live on CanadaWest.tv presented by BioSteel.
