Sarah Kuklisin stands just five-foot-six, not tall for a basketball player, but she fits in just fine with her UNBC Timberwolves teammates.
This year’s squad has just two shooters in the six-foot range - likely the most vertically-challenged in the T-wolves’ 10-year history as part of the Canada West Conference. So far that hasn’t been much of a hindrance and UNBC improved to 3-1 this season Saturday after an 88-46 win at the Northenr Sport Centre over the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack.
Kuklisin came off the bench four minutes into the third quarter of Saturday’s game at the Northern Sport Centre to inject some life into the sluggish UNBC attack. After a series of missed shots and some fired-up play from a fast-breaking WolfPack, the T-wolves needed a something to shake themselves out of the doldrums and Kuklisin was a big part of the solution.
She drew into the action after a needed timeout and her impact was immediate.
The 19-year-old rookie guard forced a turnover, made a steal that turned into a two-point jump shot, then traded threes with teammate Anastasia Soltes. That spurred Alina Shakirova and Svetlana Boykova back to their usual antics scoring points and hauling in rebounds and the T-wolves put together a 17-1 run that put them ahead 58-35 and they never looked back.
“I had a tough first half and coach (Sergey Shchepotkin) was really helping me out, he said ‘You have to light It up, we really need that energy out there,’ and as soon as he said that, I got that steal and from that point I was so ready,” said Kuklisin.
“Everyone coming off the bench was super-energetic. We had that energy and there were high-fives all around. Coach really hyped us up, he said, ‘We need this game, this is a real important game for us,’ and we just came out and something switched and we were hitting our shots. That was so fun to play.”
The T-wolves beat the WolfPack 68-51 on Friday and played well enough to win but lacked the finish they showed in the second half of the rematch.
“Every game this year we’ve gotten better, and our freshmen are stepping up, getting those points,” said Kuklisin. “We’re a very unselfish team, we’re seeing each other and it shows, it really reflected that tonight.”
Kuklisin is a product of the St. Francis Browns high school program in Calgary and she had the benefit of a full year to get to know her UNBC teammates during the lost pandemic season before being thrown into the U SPORTS fire.
“The pace is way faster,” said the psychology major. “I thought I was playing fast in high school and I came here and everyone’s fast and everyone is good, there are no wea players and you have to fight every second you’re on the court.
“It is a disadvantage being short, but we are faster than a lot of teams and I think when we get our pace going we get a lot of fast break points. The shorter you are sometimes the easier it is to get those steals and we get a lot of steals as a team.”
As usual, Shakirova led the T-wolves with 21 points and also had eight rebounds and three assists. Through four games the six-foot Russian has averaged 24.4 points, third in the conference. Rebecca Landry was next in line with 16 points, while Soltes collected 12 and Boykova and Kuklisin each finished with 11. Laura Garmendia Garcia was thorn in the side of the WolfPack with 11 defensive rebounds and 10 points. Kyla Smith, with 11 points, was the only TRU shooter to hit double figures.
Shchepotkin says the key to success this season is just a matter of his players growing confident in their own abilities. With eight Canada West rookies, they’re still learning what it takes to play at the university level.
“What I was trying to tell them during these four games was I believe they have big potential but they need to believe in in,” he said. “They felt free (in the second half) and they showed their best game probably.
“That’s what we want to get into our culture, that even bench players need to give that energy for the team and it looked like they did. (Friday’s game) was up and down and it was good we showed our character and we didn’t give up and today they were a bit more relaxed and enjoyed the game.”
Wolfpack interim head coach Ken Olynyk, who came out of retirement as the TRU athletic director to take over the team Oct. 18 when Goren Nogic suddenly left TRU, said all of his players are new to U SPORTS this season and that’s a big part of the reason they’re 0-4.
“I’m just trying to get them to play together and work hard and appreciate the game and enjoy the game, we have nobody who has played a Canada West game and it make it a little bit difficult at times,” said Olynyk, who has 25 years behind him as a university head coach with the Toronto Varsity Blues, Lethbridge Pronghorns and Okanagan Heat.
“UNBC played really well in the second half and we didn’t have anything to stop them and give them credit; they’re getting better and we’re getting better, and hopefully we’ll get lot better before the end of the season.”
Olynyk’s son is Detroit Pistons centre Kelly Olynyk, now in his ninth NBA season. He signed as a free agent with the Pistons in August. The 30-year-old South Kamloops Secondary School grad is making an annual salary of $12.5 million US and he’s looking forward to seeing a game in Detroit over the Christmas break.
“It’s very surreal at times when you look at a TV and see him or see him play live and he plays well,” said Olynyk, a native of Revelstoke. “Í think he’s a top-100 player in the NBA, which is a pretty good feat. Hopefully he’s been a bit of pioneer in that - obviously the great pioneer we had is Steve Nash. There have been Canadians over time in the NBA but now we have a pretty good contingent.”
The T-wolves will have to wait two weeks or their next games, Nov. 26-27 at home against UBC, followed by a Dec. 3-4 set at the NSC against Victoria just before the midseason break.
