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Vikes trump T-wolves on Victoria court

UNBC basketball teams wrap up 2021 Canada West schedule in rematch tonight
UNBC women at UVic Dec. 3 2021
Canada West scoring leader Alina Shakirova draws a crowd of UVic defenders during their Canada West game Friday in Victoria.

They hadn’t played a game on U SPORTS women’s basketball scene in nearly three weeks, but that was no big deal to the UVic Vikes.

They put the hammer down on the UNBC Timberwolves Friday night in Victoria, defeating the visitors from Prince George 84-59.

Alina Shakirova did her part for the green and gold, scoring a game-high 25 points to maintain her lead in the Canada West scoring race, and fellow Russian Sveta Boykova was her usual rebounding self with 13 haul-ins and 11 points, but the UVic depth proved insurmountable.

Led by Aleah Ashlee’s 17 points, three other Vikes (Ashlyn Day, Calli McMillan, Tana Pankratz) reached double figures in the scoring department and the T-wolves could not contend with it.

Victoria built quarter leads of 25-14, 45-34 and 69-46.

Back in action after a bye week, combined with pandemic off-weekend the previous week built into the Canada West schedule to allow for games that might have been postponed due to COVID restrictions, Victoria proved especially deadly from three-point range, sinking 10 of their 28 attempts (35.7 per cent). That, combined with their field goal shooting (35-for-78, 44.9 per cent) doomed the T-wolves to their second-straight loss.

The Vikes improved their season record to 3-4, fifth in the West, while UNBC dropped to 4-3, third in the division.

The UNBC men took on the nationally No. 9-ranked Vikes later Friday and lost 84-49. Victoria carried a 51-28 lead into the second half and held the T-wolves to just six points in the final 10-minute quarter.

Diego Maffia was especially tough to contain and he collected 15 points, seven assists and eight rebounds.  Sergio Elias Ralph had a 14-point game, Matthew Ellis had 10 and four other Vikes had nine-point efforts. Pereira finished with 14 rebounds.

Tyrell Laing, with 13 points, and Rohtash Mattu with 10, led the T-wolves’ cause.

Victoria improved its second-place West Division record to 5-1, while UNBC (2-5) remained fifth.

The same teams meet again today in Victoria in their final games before the Christmas break. The women start at 5 p.m. The men tip off at 7.