It was a nervous beginning for the UNBC Timberwolves.
They just had to find a way to limit the long-range threat of the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack's stinger missiles unleashed by Taiysa Worsfold. That gave the T-wolves a chance to unleash their own big guns and they cruised to a 73-53 win in their home-opener Friday at the Northern Sport Centre.
Meanwhile, in the men's game that followed, TRU scored a 72-62 win over UNBC in front of 514 spectators.
As good as Worsfold was in sinking five three-point bombs on the way to a game-high 22 points, Jen Bruce was just as effective in tight around the TRU hoop, picking up 17 points to lead all T-wolves. Bruce, a fifth-year guard, said her team was inspired by the chance to earn their first win of the season at the expense of their closest geographic rivals in the CIS Canada West conference.
"This is a big rivalry for us so we wanted to come out strong and we didn't get the start we needed but we picked it up," said Bruce. "[Worsfold] was hitting some crazy shots from half-court and we just stayed a little closer to her and tried to get a hand on the shot."
The scouting report on Worsfold from her previous two games led UNBC head coach Sergey Shchepotkin to believe she was a low-percentage shooter, but she quickly proved some rapid adjustments were needed.
"We knew if she started scoring we would have to take care of her and it took a little bit longer than we thought, but I thought we did a good job," said Shchepotkin
Mercedes Van Koughnett was at her defensive best for UNBC (1-2), hauling in 12 rebounds under her own net, and took the reins in the offensive end directing traffic, picking up eight assists. Emily Kaehn and Sarah Robin each hit for 14 points as they kept the WolfPack (0-3) still searching for their first victory. Last year, UNBC lost both games to TRU in Kamloops.
Trailing 14-9 early, the T-wolves' offence came to life toward the end of the first quarter and Van Koughnett got her hands on the trigger, sinking a three-point bucket right before the buzzer. Sarah Robin tied it up at 16 on the first play of the second quarter and Emily Kaehn put the T-wolves ahead from the free-throw line.
Worsfold, a third-year guard, collected 13 points in the first half but was held to seven in the final 20 minutes. Her back-to-back treys gave TRU the lead back midway through the second quarter but the visitors did not have an answer for Bruce and Mavia Nijjer, who stretched the UNBC lead to 40-30 by halftime. Kaehn showed pitbull determination fighting for loose balls and got rewarded with a clear lane underneath to the TRU net with an underhand shot that put UNBC up by 11 late in the third quarter.
The T-wolves got some insurance points from their backups -- Chelsey Thorne, Kylie Pozniak, Cassandra Rerick and Kellieanne Fluit -- which gave them some deserved breathing room in the fourth quarter.
In the men's game, Will Ondrik and Josh Wolfram each hit for 13 points to lead the WolfPack offense. Wolfram, a third-year veteran, stands six-foot-10 and he used his full extension on more than few occasions to reject UNBC offerings. Ondrik was deadly from the charity stripe, going 11-for-11, and came up with a big three-pointer with five minutes left and UNBC threatening to close the gap. UNBC forward Charles Barton hit two treys down the stretch to make it interesting, finishing the game with 14 points to lead all scorers.
The UNBC men saw their chances of successful home-opener start to slip away in the second quarter. Led by Reese Pribilshy and Ta'Quan Zimmerman, the WolfPack defence refused to give up much ground. At the same time, the T-wolves shooters went ice cold, going through a five-minute stretch without gaining a point.
T-wolves coach Todd Jordan didn't like what he was seeing and called two timeouts in short order, calling upon his reserves to try and break the jinx but they had very little success, getting outscored 20-9 in the second quarter to trail 32-21 at halftime. Wolfram put up 10 points in the opening half.
The T-wolves had a lot more going for them in the third quarter but were still behind 53-43 heading into the fourth.
The rematches are set for tonight at the NSC. The women tip off at 6 p.m., followed by the men's game at 8.
