Sunday afternoon at the Northern Sport Centre, the UNBC Timberwolves Women (0-1) fell 88-48 in their season opening matchup against the UBC Okanagan Heat (2-0). The pair of Kanani Coon (17) and Tsuki Tsuzuki (15) combined for 32 points for UBCO while Viktoriia Filatova led the response for UNBC with 13. A trio of first-years Lorenn Caceres (8), Hazel Phillips (8) and Summer Toor (7) combined for 22 on the afternoon for the home side. Defensively Phillips, Sophia Fuller and Aurora Cabrera each had four rebounds for UNBC while Tennyson McCarthy led the Heat with six.
An 18-0 run to start the game had the UBCO bench feeling great. Coon had nine of the first 18, and started the day three-for-three.
The first points of the day for UNBC came from Filatova who nailed a pair of free-throws. Three more points would come via free-throws – two from Summer Toor, and one from Yana Shupak.
UNBC led 27-5 after one.
Shupak opened the second quarter scoring with a layup, marking the first successful field goal of the game and the season for UNBC. Filatova added a pair of layups as the TWolves began to look a little more calm. Hazel Phillips also notched her first Canada West points off a three-point play with just over two minutes remaining in the period.
Lily Pink hit a pair of threes in the second quarter for UBCO as they outscored UNBC by a 19-11 margin on their way to a 46-16 lead at the half. Tsuki Tsuzuki and Coon each had nine at the half for the visitors while Filatova led the TWolves with six. Sophia Fuller, Aurora. Cabrera and Filatova each had three first-half boards for UNBC.
Filatova, Toor, Amrit Manak and Lorenn Caceres each nailed threes in the third in what would end up being UNBC’s strongest offensive quarter of the afternoon as they’d outscore UBCO 22-21. Caceres was especially effective as she finished the third quarter with eight points, going three-for-three from the field. Tsuzuki countered with a pair of triples on the other-end for UBCO as she and Coon had combined for 27 points through three quarters.
The final quarter saw UBCO outscore UNBC by a 21-10 clip. Phillips paced the UNBC attack with five of their 10, while Kiana Kaczur struck for seven in the final quarter for UBCO.
The final score showed 88-48 for UBCO who improved their early season record to 2-0. Sergey Shchepotkin’s crew will take their 0-1 mark into a home double-header next weekend against Alberta.