Friday night in Abbotsford, the UNBC Timberwolves (3-6) put forth a valiant defensive effort against one of the top teams in the division but ultimately fell by a 51-40 count to the University of Fraser Valley Cascades (8-3). Maddy Gobeil led the Cascades with 16 points and 15 rebounds while Esther Allison supplied five blocks defensively. At the other side for UNBC, Viktoriia Filatova (9), Amrit Manak (8) and Sveta Boykova (7) combined for 24 points. Boykova led the TWolves defensively with six boards.

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, Viktoriia Filatova hit from three, giving UNBC an early 5-1 lead. Filatova would end up with five of UNBC's first seven points. Defensively the TWolves did their part, forcing UFV to go oh for their first nine field goal attempts. The 10^th attempt 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.

Amrit 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. But 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.

Gobeil led all scorers at half with eight points and seven rebounds for the home side, while Filatova led at the other side with seven points for UNBC. Boykova had the most rebounds at half for the visitors with six.

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, Sergey 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). With just north of three minutes to go, Cabuco drilled another three, pushing the UFV lead to 51-36. Bella Mesquita and Avin Jahangiri notched late buckets for UNBC, but when the final horn sounded the score read 51-40 for UFV.

Through 40, the TWolves won the turnover battle by a +6 margin, but were outrebounded 52-31 and went to the free-throw line 16 fewer times compared to UFV.

Tomorrow night the TWolves return to action against the Pacific Division leaders from UBC at 4:00 pm.