UNBC's women's basketball squad no longer has a goose egg in the win column.
The Timberwolves snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 76-70 victory against the UBC Okanagan Heat Saturday night at the Northern Sport Centre.
It's UNBC's first win of the 2014-15 season in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Canada West Explorers Division and improve to 1-7, while the Heat are just ahead of them at 3-5.
It was the second game of a two-game set on the weekend - the Heat won Friday's game 72-58 - to wrap up the first half of the season prior to the Christmas break.
"It's definitely a sigh of relief," said fifth-year forward Sarah Robin, who collected 16 points Saturday and a team-high 20 points on Friday. "This will definitely give us a lot of confidence and we can start a winning streak in January."
UNBC held a 53-20 half-time lead after pulling away in the second quarter, outscoring the Heat 31-14.
But UBCO rebounded in the second half of the game, outscoring UNBC 21-7 in the third quarter to only trail 60-51, as they played man-to-man defence, forcing turnovers in UNBC's defensive and offensive zone.
The Timberwolves shot a lowly seven per cent in the third quarter.
The Heat kept up their attack in the final 10 minutes, and came within four points to tying the game several times.
"In the third quarter we knew we had this game, it was ours to win," said Robin, one of two fifth-year players on the team. "The momentum was in our corner and we kept our heads screwed on. We showed a lot of maturity."
UNBC rookie forward Vasilila Louka hauled in 10 rebounds and collected 19 points for a double-double.
The Heat were led by fourth-year guard Sarah Allison who netted 17 points.
The Timberwolves return to the floor in Edmonton Jan. 9 to battle the MacEwan University Griffins. Their next home game is Jan. 16 when they host the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack.
