Prince George, B.C. – Friday afternoon, in front of an electric crowd of 1400 energized kids from School District 57, the UNBC Timberwolves (2-11) put forth their usual scrappy, resilient effort in what ended up as a 67-46 loss to the visiting UBC Thunderbirds (13-2) who captured their ninth straight victory in the process. Mona Berlitz paced the UBC attack with 17 points and 12 rebounds while Emily Martindale supplied 12 points off four threes. The trio of Viktoriia Filatova (12), Rebecca Landry (11) and Bella Mesquita (10) all reached double-digits for Sergey Shchepotkin's club while Svetlana Boykova pulled seven rebounds.
 


UBC opened the game with a 21-15 lead through the opening 10 minutes as eight different Thunderbirds found the scoresheet. Mona Berlitz, Emily Martindale and Sara Toneguzzi all contributed three points apiece. On the otherside for the hosts, rookie Viktoriia Filatova notched five of her team-leading 12 points in the opening frame on two-for-two from the field. Ball control was a struggle in the first for both sides as the teams combined for 17 turnovers. UBC shot nine-for-22 (40.9 percent) from the field while UNBC countered with a five-for-13 clip (38.5 percent).
 
In the second quarter, UBC outscored UNBC by a 20-15 margin. Mona Berlitz was a handful for the UNBC defense, as the second year forward shot four-for-five and netted eight points. Olivia Weekes chimed in with five for UBC – three of which came from the free-throw line. Rebecca Landry did her part to keep UBC close, as she recorded five points, while Bella Mesquita contributed some quality minutes at both ends of the floor, adding three points, a block and a steal. When the half-time buzzer sounded, UBC held a 41-30 edge.
 
Led by a pair of triples from Emily Martindale, UBC outscored the TWolves by an 18-6 margin in the third quarter.  The T-Birds shot seven-for-15 from the field and defensively they forced seven steals. Bella Mesquita was a bright spot in the third quarter for the hosts, as she added another two points while not backing down physically on the defensive side of the floor. Amrit Manak and Viktoriia Filatova also found pay-dirt in the third for UNBC who finished three-of-10 from the field.
 
In the fourth quarter, the UNBC Timberwolves outscored UBC by a 10-8 clip. Bella Mesquita added her final three points of the day courtesy of a deep triple, and Halle Tiessen registered four points on two-of-two shooting. Defensively, UNBC held the T-Birds to just two successful field goals on 12 attempts. One of those two makes was Emily Martindale's fourth triple of the night.
 
When the dust settled, the final score read 67-46 for UBC, giving them their 13^th win of the season, and ninth straight. Both teams finished with an identical 42 rebounds while UBC won the turnover battle by a 21-30 margin. UBC had 24 points off the bench while UNBC had 16.
 
With 10 points, two rebounds, a block and a steal, Bella Mesquita was the UNBC Timberwolves Mr. Mike's Player of the Game award recipient.
 
The two sides meet again for a Saturday rematch tomorrow at 5:00 pm from the Northern Sport Centre.