Saturday night in Victoria, the UNBC Timberwolves fell 70-60 to the University of Victoria Vikes. The Russian tandem of Sveta Boykova (13) and Viktoriia Filatova (12) combined for 25 points for the visitors while the Vikes were led by Abigail Becker who chimed in with 18 points and nine rebounds. Makena Anderson added 16 for the Vikes who traded leads back-and-forth with the TWolves all night before pulling away in the back-half of the fourth quarter.

Boykova and Tegan Michel swapped early buckets to start the game, then Sophia Fuller hit back-to-back threes for UNBC which gave them an 8-4 lead. After notching a season-high 11 threes a night prior, the three-ball was a clear focus for Sergey Shchepotkin's club to start the night Saturday as four of the first eight UNBC shots came from beyond the arc. UNBC took 23 three-point shots on Saturday.

Defensively the TWolves held their ground as well, keeping Victoria to just eight points through the opening five minutes as they opened up a 14-8 lead, but five-point sequence from Victoria's Avery King off the bench helped push the score back even at 14-14.

Amrit Manak drained the third three of the quarter in response for the TWolves before the Vikes countered with 6-1 run to take the lead. A three from Brynn Dergousoff and a layup from Victoria's Becker rounded out the first quarter scoring as the Vikes led 22-21 through the opening 10.

A triple from Manak and two successful free-throws from Filatova put UNBC ahead 26-22 early in the second. Boykova added two successful free-throw makes of her own to help UNBC start on a 7-3 run. Through just 13 minutes on Saturday, the TWolves had amassed 10 free-throw chances – eight more than their entire sum from Friday. They connected on seven of those 10.
Halfway through the second, UNBC led 34-31 had clicked on five of their first 11 three-point attempts. Just as impressive for UNBC at that point was the fact that 10 different TWolves had registered points.

But on the strength of seven unanswered points from Anderson, the Vikes clawed their way back to a 38-35 lead. But Filatova and Dergousoff each answered with two successful free throws, giving UNBC a 39-38 lead with less than a minute remaining. A late three from Victoria's Anderson and a single free throw from UNBC's Manak rounded out the first half of scoring as Victoria led by a slim 41-40 margin. Boykova and Manak each had seven first half points along with four rebounds for the Green and Gold while Becker (13) and Anderson (12) combined for 25 of Victoria's 41 first half points.
Victoria began the third quarter on an 8-2 run and got an added advantage when TWolves forward Bella Mesquita fouled out of the game, but Claire Huang and Filatova notched back-to-back layups forcing UNBC back within two. Defensively both teams hunkered down in the third, as the two teams combined for 17 points in the quarter. Boykova's first bucket of the second half came on a final minute layup, and forced the TWolves back within two as Victoria led 50-48 with 10 minutes remaining.

Consecutive layups from Filatova pushed UNBC up by two early in the fourth. Filatova's four-point stretch got her to double digits offensively for a fourth straight game to start the season. But Victoria restored their advantage thanks to a Becker layup that followed two Vike's free throws. After Boykova set up Halle Tiessen with a sensational no-look pass for a layup (and a brief UNBC lead again), the Vikes answered with a 12-0 run and led 70-59 with under two minutes to go. A three from Karis de Paiva served as the dagger as the Vikes would hold on to win the game by a 70-60 score.

With a 12-point effort that was complimented by five rebounds, four steals and two assists, Filatova captured the Mr. Mike's Player of the Game honour for UNBC and has now reached double-digits in scoring in all four games so far this season. The Green and Gold are back in action on Thursday next week as they begin a Thursday-Friday double-header in Regina against the Cougars.