Coach Loralyn Murdoch wanted to get Sarah Robin more involved in the offence. On a points-to-minutes-played ratio, Robin responded.
Friday night in Vancouver, the UNBC Northern Timberwolves women's basketball team got 12 points from Robin in a 66-41 win against the Langara College Falcons. Robin, a second-year forward from Prince Rupert, netted her dozen in just 13 minutes of court time. Fouls -- four of them in those 13 minutes -- made her night shorter than it could have been.
"We keyed a lot of things offensively on [Robin] and she did a good job," Murdoch said. "We got her good looks and she scored them. She did get into foul trouble but it was one of her first opportunities to start and I really put a lot of emphasis on her offensively and she didn't crumble so that was good."
Fifth-year forward Jennifer Clyne led the Timberwolves with 17 points. She entered the game second in scoring average in the PACWEST Athletic Association, with 17.58 points per game.
Rhea Silvestri, with 16 points, was the high-scorer for the Falcons. Veteran forward Carling Muir, in the final game of her college basketball career, added 10 points for Langara (5-11).
The Timberwolves led 40-21 at half-time.
The UNBC women improved to 14-1 on the season and moved back into first place in the nine-team league, ahead of the Vancouver Island University Mariners (13-2). On Friday night, the third-place Capilano University Blues (12-3) upset the Mariners 70-68. In that game, Capilano's Jennafer Palma drained eight three-pointers and hit the winning bucket with three seconds left on the clock.
The T-wolves can clinch first place with a win tonight against the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Eagles of Surrey. The Eagles, with a 6-9 record, are currently sixth in the standings.
Murdoch said her club will have to play a complete game to come out with a victory.
"[The Eagles] are going to play a zone [defence]," she said. "They're small, they're fast, they shoot the ball well. We've got to play tough defence and we've got to generate some more offence."
Later Friday night, the UNBC men won a double-overtime thriller against the Langara men, 98-94. UNBC overcame a 44-37 half-time deficit.
The second-place Timberwolves bumped their record to 12-3. The Falcons, who started the night in third place, slipped to 10-6.
