The University of Calgary Dinos women’s basketball team overcame a slow start in the first quarter and went on defeat the University of Northern British Columbia Timberwolves 81-58 at the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre on Saturday night.
Calgary trailed 17-4 early in the first quarter, but went on a 12-3 run in the final minutes to close the gap against UNBC, trailing by only four points going into the second quarter.
The Dinos continued to pressure the Timberwolves in the second quarter, outscoring UNBC 22-11, eventually staking themselves to a 38-31 lead going into half-time. They didn’t look back, adding 43 points in the second half to earn the win and the two-game sweep to start the season 2-0.
“Credit to the Timberwolves, they really came out and punched first, went to the right people and did the right things,” said Calgary head coach Damian Jennings.
“We thought we prepped well, but with no heart for physicality out there. It took us a while to get the wheels in motion, but credit to the Timberwolves. It was a tough match-up and the score does not reflect how tough it was out there.”
Similar to Friday night, the Dinos were again successful from the three-point arc, converting nine of 29 attempts for 31 per cent. Meanwhile the Timberwolves were a dismal 12 per cent from outside the arc, connecting on only two of 16 attempts.
Brianna Ghali and Erin McIntosh led Calgary with 16 points each, while Bobbi Jo Colburn added 14 points, including nine from the three-point range. Laura Grabe added 13 points.
The Dinos managed to hold UNBC forward Vasiliki Louka to only four points in the first half, but she found her scoring touch in the second half, finishing the night with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“You can’t play Louka in single coverage, she’s going to face double-teams every night,” said Jennings. “She did a wonderful job staying composed. She’s a very impressive player.”
Maria Mongomo led UNBC with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Madison Landry netted 15 points.
“They (the Dinos) came to play tonight and we can’t not come to play,” said Landry. “We put everything together in the first quarter and had such good energy and then we started to lose it from there.
“It’s games like this that you have to look back on and see what we can take away from the game and work on it.
The 0-2 Timberwolves travel to Langley on Friday to face Trinity Western University, while the 2-0 Dinos return to Calgary for their home-opener against UBC.
