Friday night at UBCO, the UNBC Timberwolves (0-1) dropped an 84-64 road decision to the UBC Okanagan Heat (2-0). Lauren Foullong finished the night with a game-high 23 points for the hosts while Lily Pink (10) and Kelsey Falk (12) combined for 22 rebounds. At the other side, second-year guard Viktoriia Filatova led all Timberwolves with 19 points and five steals. Sveta Boykova (12) and Bella Mesquita (10) also finished in double-digits offensively for UNBC.
After a high energy first quarter, the Heat held a 23-20 lead. the first six UNBC points on the season came from Boykova who knocked down a pair of three-throws, a turnaround jumper and a layup, but the Heat held an early 8-6 lead with Foullong supplying five of the first eight points for UBCO. Sarah Kuklisin supplied the next four UNBC points off layups, and Mesquita and Adaiah Tupas-Singh both snagged their first buckets of the season, giving the TWolves a 14-13 advantage. Some savvy defense from Halle Tiessen on back-to-back possessions resulted in back-to-back layups from Filatova, and the TWolves led 18-14. UBCO finished the first quarter on a 7-2 run though on the strength of a triple from Foullong and a pair of layups from Lily Pink.
Five different Timberwolves found paydirt in the second quarter as Boykova, Mesquita, Filatova, Tupas-Singh and first-year local Brynn Dergousoff all converted. Boykova led all Timberwolves at half with eight points and six boards while Mesquita and Filatova each had six points. On the other end, eight more from Foullong and four from Lily Pink helped the Heat outscore UNBC by a 14-10 margin in the second, and the hosts led 37-30 at halftime.
UBCO held a 27-21 edge in rebounds at half and were four-of-19 from deep. UNBC was unsuccessful from three during the opening 20, but converted on 42.4 percent (14/33) of their field goal attempts in the first half.
The third quarter belonged to UBCO as they outscored UNBC by a 25-6 margin. They began the quarter on an 18-0 run which featured six from Pink, five from Foullong, three from Tsuzuki and two each from Kelsey Falk and Kiana Kaczur), UNBC answered with a single free-throw from Claire Huang, and three from Filatova. For Huang, it marked her first Canada West minutes after she unfortunately missed the entirety of last season due to injury. She added two more late free-throws to round out the third quarter scoring for UNBC who trailed 62-36 going into the fourth.
Filatova notched the first four points of the final quarter for UNBC, and Dergousoff then added a layup to stake UNBC to a 6-2 run. The TWolves outscored UBCO 28-22 in the fourth. Leading the way for UNBC was Filatova who secured 10 of her team-high 19 in the final quarter. The 19 points for the second-year Russian guard marked a new Canada West regular season career high for points. For her efforts she would be named Mr. Mike’s Player of the Game for UNBC. Boykova, Mesquita, Tupas-Singh and Dergousoff each added four in the fourth.
Leading the way in the fourth for UBCO was Kiana Kaczur who chimed in with five points while Ryley Bullock drained four three-throws.
When the final horn sounded, the Heat held an 84-64 advantage, and earned their second victory in as many nights. The hosts finished with a 60-35 edge in rebounds and an 8-0 edge in threes. UNBC finished the night with a 39.7 percent field goal percentage (25-63).
Up next for UNBC – a trip home for a Sunday clash with the TRU Wolfpack at 2 p.m.