Saturday night at the Northern Sport Centre, the UNBC Timberwolves (4-16) wrapped up their 2023-24 Canada West season with a 95-32 loss to the league-leading Saskatchewan Huskies. Andrea Dodig (19) and Carly Ahlstrom (17) combined for 36 points for the visitors who finished the night with a 52.2 field-goal percentage (36/69). For UNBC, it marked a fond farewell to their lone graduate and captain Rebecca Landry who finished the night with eight points and three assists. Viktoriia Filatova added a team-high 11 while Amrit Manak snagged five rebounds.
The two starting graduates – Carly Ahlstrom and Rebecca Landry swap opening baskets. Landry would later add a free-throw to end a 9-0 run for Saskatchewan. Ahlstrom, who managed 10 points a night ago, recorded eight in the opening quarter to lead the Huskies while Ella Murphy Wiebe chimed in with seven en route to a 27-5 Huskies lead. Two free throws from Viktoriia Filatova rounded out the first quarter scoring for UNBC. Saskatchewan held a +11 lead in rebounding (16-5) and held UNBC to 1/13 from the field.
Ahlstrom added seven more in the second, and led all scorers at half with 15 points as the Huskies led 52-14. Defensively the reigning Canada West Player of the Year had eight rebounds at the half. Logan Reider came off the bench to add five for Saskatchewan who were equally impressive on the defensive end as they allowed just four first-half field goals from UNBC. Two of those four came from rookie Viktoriia Filatova – the first a three, and the second was a buzzer-beating layup that came as a result of Rebecca Landry sprinting down the floor, winning a race before the ball went out of bounds, and finding Filatova underneath the hoop. Filatova led UNBC with seven at the half with Landry chiming in with five.
Saskatchewan out-scored UNBC 23-8 in the third. Andrea Dodig and Lucia Zlinska each posted seven points for the Huskies to lead the way in the quarter, while Ahlstrom’s 17 (through all three) remained the most among all players. Third quarter offensive highlights for UNBC included a trey from Landry, and an impressive block from Nyemuon Padhal that directly led to a Hanna Busic ‘And 1’ finish. Landry had eight points through three, trailing only Filatova’s nine. 30 minutes through the Huskies had a +29 lead in rebounding.
Eight different Huskies found the scoresheet in the final quarter as they cemented their 95-32 victory. Their leading scorer on the night was Dodig who finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Adaiah Tupas-Singh (5), Sophia Fuller (3), and Filatova (2) all had points in the final quarter for UNBC, but the loudest ovation of the night was saved for Landry. With less than two minutes left, Sergey Shchepotkin purposely removed Landry from the floor giving the crowd, and her teammates an opportunity to applaud the Prince George local who leaves the UNBC Timberwolves women’s basketball program as one of their top-five all-time scorers and a five-time Academic All-Canadian student athlete.