Box Score Saturday night in Kelowna, the UNBC Timberwolves (0-7) fell 61-40 to the UBC Okanagan Heat (5-3). Sergey Shchepotkin's club kept things close for a majority of the night, but a 20-9 run in the fourth quarter helped UBCO earn the sweep. Tsuki Tsuzuki led the way for UBCO with 15 points while UNBC's offensive leader was
Claire Huang who finished with a career-best 11.
Aurora Cabrera chimed in with eight points and 10 boards for the Timberwolves.
The game began with a 7-2 run for UBCO as Lily Pink, Tennyson McCarthy and Tsuki Tsuzuki all had buckets. UNBC's first two makes of the night came from
Amrit Manak and
Claire Huang. Manak later added three successful free-throws, and with two minutes to go in the quarter, UBC held a slight 13-9 lead. A late triple from Kiana Kaczur moved the Heat up 16-9 which is how the first quarter would end.
A defensive-battle continued into the second as two sides combined for just three points apiece in the opening three minutes and change. That changed when Cabrera nailed her second field-goal of the game, moving the TWolves within five at 19-14. Back-to-back free-throw makes from Cabrera and a triple from Filatova late in the period got UNBC back within one at 21-20. But two buckets from McCarthy and a deep two from Tsuzuki moved the Heat back up by seven,, and when the horn sounded to end the half, the scoreboard showed 27-20 for UBCO.
At the half, Cabrera led the way for UNBC with seven points and four rebounds while McCarthy had eight for UBCO. Ava Heppner was the first-half rebound leader for the Heat with eight.
Back-to-back layups from Huang, and a layup from Manak helped move the TWolves within four, as the Timberwolves continued to play motivated, unselfish basketball in the early portion of the third. But the Heat responded with a 10-3 run and took a 10-point lead into the final 10 as the score showed 41-31 for UBCO.
Through three Tsuzuki led all scorers with 13 points while Huang had nine to lead UNBC.
UBCO began the fourth on a 9-0 run which provided more than enough cushion as the Heat would go on to earn a 61-40 victory. Fourth quarter buckets for UNBC came from Huang (a layup), Filatova (a layup),
Lorenn Caceres (free-throws) and Manak (a three). The Heat outscored UNBC 20-9 in the final 10.
UNBC returns to action next weekend on the road against UFV on Friday and Saturday.
