One point was all that separated UNBC's women's basketball team from celebrating it's first win of the season Friday night.
Instead, the Timberwolves suffered their fifth-straight loss of the season as they were edged 60-59 by the Mount Royal University Cougars during their home-opener at the Northern Sport Centre.
Trailing 60-59 with 1.5 seconds left in the game, UNBC turned the ball over to Mount Royal on an inbound play in its own zone and the final seconds ticked down as the Cougars earned their second win of the season.
UNBC now falls to 0-5 and remain in last place in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Canada West Explorers Division, while the Calgary-based Cougars improve to 2-3.
The Timberwolves started strong and ran out to a 28-23 half-time lead on the strength of rookie forward Vasilila Louka, who collected 12 points.
UNBC was ahead by as many as nine points with two-and-a-half minutes left in the third quarter. A turnover on an inbound play went directly to the Mount Royal's leading scorer, rookie guard Jayla Verney.
She made the two-point shot from just outside the key to tie the game 43-43 as the buzzer sounded.
The Cougars rebounded in the fourth quarter and took their first lead (48-46) of the game at the 7:12 minute mark. The lead changed several times in the final minutes.
The Timberwolves had a 59-58 edge until Verney sank a pair of free-throws to give the Cougars a 60-59 lead with 48.3 seconds left in the game.
UNBC had trouble containing Verney for the entire game as she led all players on the court with 28 points and six rebounds.
Behind Louka, forward Sarah Robin was UNBC's second-leading scorer with 15 points.
The two squads clash again tonight at the Northern Sport Centre at 5 p.m.
