If Shay Crisp was a menu item, the UNBC Timberwolves would have declined a second helping.
The T-wolves got their fill of Crisp long before time expired in their U Sports Canada West Conference women's basketball home-opener Friday night at the Northern Sport Centre.
Crisp, the fifth-year University of Alberta Pandas point guard, put the T-wolves through a blender, slicing and dicing her way to a 10-point, eight-rebound game, handing the T-wolves a 78-65 loss to keep her team a perfect 3-0 this season.
Crisp stands just five-foot-eight but loomed large on defence and was willing to pay the price taking on UNBC forwards underneath the hoop, hauling in seven defensive rebounds. The scrappy veteran threaded sharp passes to her teammates and collected five assists.
"She's new to us and we're just happy to have her," said Pandas head coach Scott Edwards.
"She's getting more comfortable week-to-week playing for us and I just like the maturity she added. She executed what we wanted to do offensively and defended the point guard position well and kept the ball out of the paint. That was probably her most complete game as a Panda."
After four years with the Victoria Vikes, the 23-year-old Crisp took a year off basketball before transferring to the U of A this fall to join the Pandas.
"I honestly didn't think I'd play basketball again and an opportunity came out and I wanted to do something different, I've lived in Victoria my whole life and I decided to take a chance," said Crisp.
"I had played four years and had a fun time and I thought it was time to move on, but the passion came back."
Crisp got to the Canada West final four with the Vikes in 2015 and lost in the bronze medal game to the Pandas. This season, Victoria is hosting the national final and she'd love nothing better than to be there playing with her new team.
Maddie Rogers paced the Pandas' attack with 18 points, while Emma Kary and Aimee Wilson each hit for 11. Alberta had its radar honed, nailing 10 of 23 three-point attempts.
For UNBC, Vasiliki Louka shot a game-high 21 points and T-wolves rookie guard Madison Landry, a Duchess Park grad, had an 11-point game.
The T-wolves (0-3) kept it somewhat close most of the game, trailing 44-32 at halftime and 65-48 after 30 minutes, but could never close the gap beyond eight-points. T-wolves coach Sergey Shchepotkin hopes his young team can build off Friday's game and came out with a better effort in the rematch against the veteran-stacked Pandas today (5 p.m., NSC).
"I'm not happy because I know some of my players can play much much better," Shchepotkin said.
"I'm definitely glad that against such a strong team we have just 13-point difference and that's great for us, but I have big hopes for my players and I'm pretty sure we can do even better."
Friday's game gave the NSC crowd its first look at Landry, Kassidy Dyck (Nechako Valley) and Alina Shakirova, who red-shirted with UNBC last season.
It also marked the return of T-wolves CIS all-star guard Maria Mongomo, a native of La Palmas, Spain - back in the lineup after missing half her rookie season due to visa problems. Mongomo averaged 13 points her first two games but was fighting off the effects of a flu bug Friday and was held to six points and five rebounds.
In a thrilling men's game that followed, the Alberta Golden Bears hung on to defeat the Timberwolves 78-69. Trailing 47-55 at three-quarter time, the T-wolves reduced the deficit to two points with three minutes left. Down 66-64, UNBC could not contain the one-two scoring punch of Austin Waddoups and Brody Clarke down the stretch.
Right after Austin Chandler electrified a pro-UNBC crowd when stuffed a Sam Zhang feed through the hoop, Waddoups snuck under cover and sunk a timely three to give the visitors some breathing room.
T-wolves guard Rhys Elliot made it interesting in the dying seconds, hitting a trey with 2:11 left to make it a three-point game, on his way to a 21-point game, but that's as close as it got.
Waddoups led all Alberta shooters with 19 points and also had seven rebounds. Clarke finished with 16 points while Geof Pippus had a 15-point, seven-rebound effort.
The win improved Alberta's record to 3-0, while UNBC dropped to 0-3.
The men tip off again tonight at 7 p.m.
