UNBC women take two road games from Camosun
Erin Beckett and Christine Kennedy tapped a little of their old magic and made the Camosun College Chargers vanish from the upper levels of the league standings.
Beckett and Kennedy, former high school teammates at College Heights secondary school, are now key members of the UNBC Northern Timberwolves women's basketball team. On Saturday in Victoria, they led the Timberwolves to a 64-54 win against the Chargers. In the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association contest, Beckett scored 19 points and Kennedy hit for 11 points and dished out eight assists. Beckett is a third-year post player and Kennedy is a fourth-year point guard.
"Erin had a really good game," said UNBC head coach Loralyn Murdoch. "We were able to get her the ball inside. Christine got eight assists and (guard) Mercedes (Van Koughnett) got six assists and Erin got the most shots off. It was just nice. She gave us a big target, we were able to get her the ball and she finished."
Beckett, who played one year at the University of Saskatchewan before she came home and joined the T-wolves, was breathing a sigh of relief after the game.
"I was finally finishing some shots that I had been struggling with in practice so I felt really good," said Beckett, who added that her teamwork with Kennedy was "just like old times."
Another reason why the Timberwolves topped the Chargers was free-throw shooting. From the foul line, UNBC went an impressive 20-for-21.
The T-wolves also beat Camosun on Friday, 73-54. By winning both games, UNBC (8-1) moved into a first-place tie with the UBC Okanagan Heat of Kelowna. The Heat split a weekend series with the third-place Vancouver Island University Mariners of Nanaimo. As for the Chargers, they dropped from second to fourth in the 10-team league.
The UNBC and Camosun rivalry has been intense for the past couple seasons, with each team claiming one provincial championship. The Chargers don't have quite the same level of experience this season and the T-wolves took advantage of that fact.
"We were very confident coming out that first game," Beckett said. "I wasn't that surprised (with the results). We're a good team. We were streaky but we were good at pushing the ball at times and attacking."
Chelsea McMullen, a former UNBC forward who now wears a Camosun uniform, was a force in both contests. She had 11 points and seven rebounds on Saturday and scored 21 points in the opener.
"She's having a great year and she played very, very well," Murdoch said. "She was always an up-and-comer and now that she's two years older and has some experience under her belt, she's tough to stop. She's tall, she's athletic, she finishes very well with her right hand. We didn't do a good enough job (Friday) night but we did a better job (Saturday) of getting her out of her comfort zone."
The Timberwolves, now ranked 11th in Canada, will start a five-game homestand Friday against the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Eagles of Surrey. The opening tip-off is at 6 p.m. at the Northern Sport Centre.
