Last year the UNBC Timberwolves and their playoff aspirations wore mercilessly ripped apart before the season even began.
Two torn ACLs in the same preseason game 10 minutes apart wiped out the season for returning point guard Sarah Kuklisin and high-profile recruit Claire Huang and that left the TWolves high and dry for the rest of the season.
With their first- and second-string court generals sidelined, they never recovered. UNBC limped to a 4-16 finish and missed the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.
Kuklisin finally received medical clearance to play earlier this month and Huang is back as well but they’ll still need time to get back up to speed playing in one of the toughest conferences U SPORTS women’s basketball has to offer.
The TWolves don’t expect to be world-beaters right off the hop with a young team that’s still finding its legs, but in a 20-game season there’s not much time to get their act together.
One thing’s for certain, they’ve got one of the top rebounders in the league back for a fourth season. Sveta Boykova, a six-foot-one Moscow, Russia native, topped all the team’s individual stats, leading the TWolves in points (11.1 per game), rebounds (10.4), assists (3.1) and blocks (1.0). She was an all-star at the McGill University preseason tournament in Montreal despite her injuries.
“Sveta is very important for our team and she’s doing the best she can do,” said Sergey Shchepotkin, entering his 11th season behind the UNBC bench. “She’s suffering with her knee and back, it’s not 100 percent, she’s trying her best. She’s a warrior.”
In her second U SPORTS season, before she got hurt, Kuklisin averaged four assists and 7.9 points per game in 2022-23. Just as importantly, she was one of the team’s defensive gems, drawing some of the toughest assignments in the 11 games she started that year.
Huang also shows plenty of promise heading into her first Canada West season. The Vancouver native broke into the college ranks playing in PacWest for Langara College and was the league rookie of the year in 2022-23. She also excels when the other team has the ball and her and Kuklisin, provided they stay healthy, should take some of the defensive workload off of Boykova.
Forward Bella Mesquita (third year, from Calgary) and guards Adaiah Tapis-Singh (fourth year, Victoria) and Amrit Manak (third year, Toronto) all return to the UNBC starting lineup. With 283 points after two seasons, Manak has crept up to 30th on the all-time TWolves’ scoring list.
College Heights grad Sophia Fuller continues to shows her athleticism and her persistence and consistency on the court is being rewarded with a role in the starting lineup as a second-year TWolf.
“She’s a very good defender and she brings a lot of energy,” said Shchepotkin.
Viktoriia Filatova, a second -year guard from Russia, was one of the top rookies statistically last year in Canada West. Coming off the bench as a 17-year-old she averaged eight points per game (third among rookies) and her 34 assists and 31 steals topped the Canada West rookie charts.
“She was very helpful last year and I hope she will progress this year,” said Shchepotkin. She was pretty good in the preseason and scored like 20 points per game in the last tournament so hopefully she will get her game and be consistent.”
Rookie forward Brynn Dergousoff has moved up from Duchess Park high school ranks and her six-foot frame gives UNBC some needed net presence. Forward Avin Jahangiri, a graduate of Charles Best Secondary in Coquitlam, also measures up at 183 centimetres and her height and long limbs allow her to win loose-ball battles in the key.
“The beginning of the season you always hope for everything that it will work together and you always have some warriors,” said Shchepotkin. “I’d say they work really hard and want to succeed. We just need time to stick together and we need to find our leaders. I’m pretty positive about the team, they work hard.”
The Canada West coaches' poll ranks UNBC 14th out of 17 teams.
The TWolves had high hopes for third-year guard recruit Ramina Gailiunaite but she rolled her ankle and re-aggravated damage from a previous injury in the Montreal preseason tournament and has retired from basketball, returning to her home in Lithuania. Shchepotkin also had a six-foot-six Nigerian lined up to come to Prince George but she was unable to get a student visa under the new federal rules which have significantly cut back the number of international students coming to Canada.
They also lost forward Nyemuon Padhal, the T-wolves’ most improved player in ‘22-23, when she decided to quit basketball. The other key departure is homebrew guard and leading scorer Rebecca Landry who was eligible to return but left the city to attend dentistry school.
The new season starts Friday at 5 p.m. in Kamloops, where the T-wolves face the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack.
The T-wolves face UBC-Okanagan Heat at the Northern Sport Centre Sunday at 2 p.m.
Fans who bring a non-perishable food item to the tailgate party at 1 p.m. will receive free admission to the women’s game and the UNBC-UBC-O men’s game that follows at 4.
