Maria Mongomo is back doing what she did so well last season for the UNBC Timberwolves.
The Spanish-born, second-year point guard was a Canada West conference all-star until she ran into visa problems that forced her to return to Spain midway through the 2015-16 season.
Saturday night in Winnipeg, Mongomo shot a team-high 15 points but that wasn't enough to topple the Winnipeg Wesmen, who went home with a 66-51 victory to complete a two-game U Sports women's basketball sweep of the T-wolves.
The T-wolves had no answer for fourth-year guard Anotoinette Miller, who hit for 21 points while adding eight rebounds and six assists. Miller sunk three of her four tries from three-point range. Megan Noonan had a 12-point night for the Wesmen, as did UNBC's Vasiliki Louka.
Winnipeg led 34-20 at halftime. The Wesmen won the season-opener 58-52 over UNBC.
The UNBC men lost both of their games to the Wesmen, despite the scoring heroics of T-wolves guard Rhys Elliott. Elliott, a native of Adelaide, Australia, now in his fifth season, collected a game-high 34 points and had five rebounds and four steals Saturday, but it wasn't enough to give the T-wolves their first win of the season. They lost 84-75 to Winnipeg.
Sean Tarver, a Baltimore, Md., native, was the big gun for the Wesmen with 29 points and 11 rebounds, while Ryan Oirbans and Will Sesay struck for 17 and 14 points respectively. Vaggelis Loukas contributed 19 points and nine rebounds in a losing cause for UNBC.
The Wesmen defeated UNBC 74-59 on Friday.
In their home-opening weekend this Friday and Saturday, the T-wolves will host the University of Alberta in two-game sets at the Northern Sport Centre. On Friday, the women tip off at 6 p.m., followed by the men's game at 8 p.m. The teams will meet at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday.
