TRURO, N.S. -- The bronze-medal hopes of the UNBC Northern Timberwolves died in the third quarter.
The Timberwolves, up against the Sheridan College Bruins of Oakville, Ont., for a spot in the bronze medal game at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association women's basketball championship, were completely dominated in the third quarter. The Bruins blitzed the T-wolves 40-13 in that 10-minute stretch of the game and went on to win 97-65. The big and physical Bruins took their intensity to a level the Timberwolves couldn't match. With brilliant outside shooting from Jeralyn Espiritu and Nakia Arthur, and crushing inside play from Donisha Young, the Bruins were unstoppable in the quarter. Espiritu finished the game with 26 points, Arthur had 24 and Young contributed 18.
The Timberwolves also made far too many turnovers in the third and that kept feeding the momentum of the Bruins.
“I think they just wanted it more,” said fifth-year guard Lindsay Anderson, who played her final game in a UNBC uniform. “There's no reason we shouldn't be able to play with a team like that, besides aggression, maybe confidence. Basically we had a complete meltdown. That's the only way to explain it.”
At halftime, the Timberwolves trailed the Bruins by only a single point, 40-39. The Bruins took the lead with two seconds left in the half when Espiritu nailed a long three-pointer.
The T-wolves got out to a 7-2 lead and were ahead 22-14 at one stage of the first quarter. The Bruins scored seven unanswered points after that. At the end of the first quarter, UNBC was up 22-21.
“The first quarter felt good,” Anderson said. “The second quarter, at the end of it, everything started to slide. They basically pounded it from outside. They hit I don't know how many threes on our heads. And we just made a lot of stupid, mindless turnovers - throw the ball away, throw the ball away, throw the ball away.”
Jaclyn Nazareno, a fourth-year guard, drained 26 points for UNBC, while fourth-year forward Laurel Wallace added 14.
The Timberwolves finished nationals with a 1-2 record and will place either fifth or sixth of eight teams. UNBC opened with an 88-50 loss to the Sainte-Foy Dynamiques and beat the Nova Scotia Agricultural College Rams 83-41.
The Bruins will face the top-ranked Vanier College Cheetahs of Montreal in tonight's game for bronze. The Cheetahs, coached by former Prince George resident Ruby Viray, lost a Saturday night semifinal 59-54 to the Dynamiques. Vanier bounced back with a 61-60 win against Edmonton's Concordia.
The Dynamiques will tip off against the Mount Saint Vincent Mystics of Halifax in tonight's gold medal final. Mount Saint Vincent beat Sheridan 66-54 in Saturday's other semifinal.
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