Up against a nationally-ranked team with eyes on a U SPORTS title, the UNBC Timberwolves did not make it easy.
With their gutsiest effort of the season the T-wolves pushed the Fraser Valley Cascades for 40 minutes, eventually falling 77-70 in their season-ending women’s basketball playoff Friday in Edmonton.
Canada West all-star Maddy Gobeil was the engine for UFV, scoring 26 points, grabbing 11 boards, and adding five assists and four steals.
Nikki Cabuco had 17 points, including five three-pointers, while Deanna Tuchscherer had 17 points and seven rebounds.
UNBC’s all-star forward Alina Shakirova, in the final game of her Canada West career, had 17 points and eight rebounds.
Sarah Kuklisin made four three-pointers for the T-wolves on her way to a 12 point, six-rebound, and four-assist effort, while Laura Garmendia Garcia had 12 points off the bench and Rebecca Landry added 11 points.
In the early going, both defenses dug in, forcing the opposition into tough shots. Gobeil gave UFV an early lead on a triple, before Shakirova, answered with a triple of her own. Gobeil continued to assert herself, slicing to the hoop for tough finishes in the paint, while UNBC looked to keep pace with jumpers from Sveta Boykova and Garmendia Garcia.
After Gobeil buried another triple to give the Cascades a late lead, Boykova made a three at the buzzer to give the Timberwolves a 16-15 advantage after 10 minutes.
Cabuco came out firing in the second quarter, making treys on back-to-back possessions to build a small edge for the Cascades, but Kuklisin made two threes of her own, knotting the game midway through the frame. Sergey Shchepotkin’s team continued to compete on the defensive end, hounding Fraser Valley into uncharacteristically bad shots and a pair of shot-clock violations.
Second-year post Julia Tuchscherer got the Cascades settled down with a pair of buckets inside and her big sister Deanna got to the hoop with success against the pesky T-wolves defenders. UNBC pushed back in the final minute of the half, but trailed 38-31 at the half.
The teams trading baskets to start the third quarter, as UNBC senior Olivia Wilson got two tough putbacks to drop, while Deanna Tuchscherer was up to the challenge at the other end with a pair of layups. Back-to-back treys from Landry and Jenna Korolek gave UNBC their first lead at the game at the 5:30 mark of the quarter, but that possession of the lead and momentum was a game of hot potato the rest of the frame.
Gobeil put her stamp on the stanza, getting a tough and-one to go for UFV, but Sarah Kuklisin would make the final shot of the quarter, making a three-pointer as the third quarter ended to give the T-wolves a 53-51 lead.
UFV came out the more assertive side early in the fourth, as a lid appeared over the basket the T-wolves targeted and they missed their first six shots, while Gobeil and the Cascades built a moderate lead.
But the T-wolves would not go away. Kuklisin and Landry hit triples, cutting the deficit back down to three points inside the four-minute mark. UNBC took the lead on a Garmendia Garcia jumper, before Cabuco knocked down a three at the other end to give Fraser Valley the lead yet again.
With the clock working against them, UNBC continued to press, but every time they’d make a basket, the Cascades would answer. Garmendia Garcia sunk a midrange jumper and Cabuco answered. Landry made a huge three, but Tuchscherer got a tough and-one to drop.
The game was the last in their U SPORTS careers for Shakirova, Wilson and Korolek.
Fraser Valley now moves on to a Canada West quarterfinal playoff against the Alberta Pandas Saturday in Edmonton.
The UNBC men (8-12, 10th place) are in Victoria to face the Regina Cougars (10-10, ninth place) in a single-game elimination playoff tonight (7 p.m. Canada West TV). The winner will play the Victoria Vikes (17-3, second place) on Saturday.
