They set a new goal after an opening-game loss at nationals -- to come home with bronze medals hanging around their necks.
After a 74-67 victory against the Lethbridge College Kodiaks Friday in Lethbridge, the UNBC Northern Timberwolves are on track to play for their desired prize.
At the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association women's basketball national championship tournament, the Timberwolves put forward a complete team effort to down the determined Kodiaks. UNBC's non-starters piled up 50 points, compared to only five for the Kodiaks' non-starters. The T-wolves' ability to go deep into their lineup and still find ways to score was a key factor against Lethbridge, which used an effective pressing defence for most of the game.
"We're definitely going to take the win -- it wasn't pretty," said UNBC head coach Loralyn Murdoch. "I liked the fact we never gave up. We were up four at half [36-32] and I didn't think we played extremely well. Their press gave us some major concerns and we turned the ball over 24 times [in the game] and we gave up 26 offensive boards. But, at the end of the day, we shot the ball pretty well and we finished inside. When we did break the press, it was lay-ups."
The Timberwolves, ranked third for nationals, lost their first game on Thursday, 74-62 to sixth-seeded Algonquin College of Nepean, Ont. Lethbridge is the No. 7 seed.
On Saturday, UNBC will have to win twice to earn bronze. In their first game, the Timberwolves will face either the Sainte-Foy Dynamiques or the Grant MacEwan University Griffins of Edmonton. A victory will land the T-wolves in the bronze-medal game later in the day.
At the men's nationals in Truro, N.S., the top-ranked Timberwolves lost a Friday semifinal 78-71 to the fourth-seeded Mohawk College Mountaineers of Hamilton and can now do no better than bronze. On Saturday, the T-wolves will start their bronze-medal quest with a morning game against the sixth-ranked St. Thomas University Tommies of Fredericton.
