In their return to Canada West women’s basketball action after the month-long semester break Friday night in Abbotsford, the UNBC Timberwolves put forth a valiant defensive effort against one of the top teams in the division but ultimately fell 51-40 to the University of Fraser Valley Cascades.
Maddy Gobeil led the Cascades (8-3) with 16 points and 15 rebounds while Esther Allison supplied five blocks defensively.
For UNBC (3-6), Viktoriia Filatova collected nine points, Amrit Manak had eight and Sveta Boykova finished with seven. Boykova led the TWolves defensively with six rebounds.
Rust may have been a factor for both teams early on as the first four minutes and 50 seconds of the game yielded zero points for either team. Adaiah Tupas-Singh hit from the mid-range for UNBC ending their drought and the next time up the floor, Filatova hit from three, giving UNBC an early 5-1 lead. Filatova picked up five of UNBC’s first seven points.
Defensively the TWolves did their part, forcing UFV to go 0-for-9 on field goal attempts. The 10th shot of the night was good for the Cascades as Madison Storme hit a jumper, but the Cascades missed their next two. With time winding down and the Cascades ahead 9-8, Filatova hit a 12-footer from the corner giving UNBC a 10-9 edge after 10.
Manak and Sophia Fuller drained back-to-back threes to begin the second quarter, giving the TWolves a 16-9 edge as the Cascades’ struggles continued from the field. after nearly three cold minutes, Gobeil drained her third and fourth free-throws of the night to put UFV on the board in the second quarter. Storme followed with a pair of jumpers and Bernie Leda hit on two free-throws staking UFV to their first lead at 19-18. With under two minutes remaining in the half, Boykova buried her second jumper of the night for UNBC, to push them back within two (22-20). A late layup from Gobeil restored the two-possession lead for the hosts, who went into the half ahead 25-20.
Defensively there was plenty to feel good about for Sergey Shchepotkin’s crew at the half, as they held a powerful, potent UFV attack to just six successful field goals, without allowing a single three against. UFV shot zero-for-14 from deep while UNBC was three-for-10.
Gobeil and Filatova traded early buckets in the third quarter for their respective teams to kick off the scoring in the third as neither team was able to separate from the other by very much. Gobeil, Leda and Google Sidhu all hit field goals for UFV while Boykova, Manak and rookie Avin Jahangiri responded with buckets for UNBC who trailed by a slim 34-30 margin after 30 minutes. Late in the quarter, Shchepotkin did not hesitate to use his reserves as Yana Shupak, Halle Tiessen, Claire Huang and Avin Jangiri provided solid defense and energy. Through 30, UFV had clicked on just 10 of their 40 field goal attempts, but their 14-for-17 from the charity stripe was the difference compared to UNBC’s one-for-four.
Manak’s second triple of the night made it a one-score game early in the fourth, but Storme, Gobeil and Nikki Cabuco (three) all responded with buckets, pushing UFV’s lead to nine (42-33) and an early three from Cabuco pushed the UFV lead to 15.
The TWolves won the turnover battle by a plus-6 margin, but were outrebounded 52-31 and went to the free-throw line 16 fewer times than UFV.
Saturday at 4 p.m. UNBC will face the Pacific Division-leading UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver.
