The UNBC Northern Timberwolves have a desert destination.
The local women's basketball team is scheduled to fly out of Prince George this morning, bound for Phoenix, Ariz. After the Timberwolves touch down, they'll start preparing for the Phoenix Cactus Jam. Their first game is Tuesday against Phoenix College.
The T-wolves will also tip off against South Mountain Community College on Wednesday and Yavapai Community College on Thursday.
"Everyone knows that the first half of the season, there were some ups and some downs so this will be a great opportunity to have the team together and playing some different competition," said UNBC athletics director Jason Kerswill, who, along with assistant AD Kaz Ikuta, will handle the coaching duties. Interim head coach Rachel Hulme won't make the trip and head coach Loralyn Murdoch is on maternity leave.
"This is something that doesn't happen every single day," Kerswill added. "We're looking at it as a great team-builder leading forward to the second half of the year."
During the 2010 portion of the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association schedule, the Timberwolves posted a 4-3 record. They will resume league play in the middle of January.
The Cactus Jam will be held at Arizona State University. Kerswill is hoping the T-wolves will put a chill into their southern opponents.
"I'd love to go 3-0, to be honest," he said. "I have checked (the teams) out and they're three very equal schools so either we're going to go down there and win all three or it's going to be three really tough battles."
Only one UNBC player will be unavailable for duty. Kady Dandeneau, a fourth-year forward, is still recovering from off-season knee surgery. She'll be on the trip but isn't expected to get back into game action until Jan. 14-15, when the Timberwolves will be in Squamish for league games against Quest University.
The UNBC women's basketball program has been raising money for this trip for about five years. Total cost is estimated at $20,000.
"This has been a plan of Loralyn's for a while now," Kerswill said.
The UNBC men's basketball team will be in Calgary this week, at a SAIT Polytechnic tournament. The Timberwolves, who enter the event as defending champions, open up against the NAIT Ooks on Tuesday. In the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association national rankings, the T-wolves are No. 7 and the Ooks, from Edmonton, are No. 8.
