In the battle of the unbeaten teams the University of Northern British Columbia Timberwolves now stand alone on top of the PACWEST women's standings after a 60-52 win Friday over the Vancouver Island University Mariners.
The T-wolves (5-0) dominated in the second quarter at the Northern Sport Centre outscoring their opponents 19-7 and held off a fierce Mariners' (5-1) attack to maintain their unblemished record.
T-wolves third-year guard Mercedes Van Koughnett said the perfect record is nice with one game remaining before Christmas break, but the team had a strong regular season the past two years before bowing out early in the playoffs.
UNBC led by 22 points midway through the third quarter only to watch the Mariners battle back.
"In the second half, we just didn't play as well as we did in the first," said the 20-year-old graduate of Duchess Park after putting up nine points and nine rebounds. "We were throwing the ball away, [committing] stupid errors and not being aggressive on offence or defence."
The Mariners were led by Jocelyn Jones, an import from Seattle, Wash., and Shayna Worthington with 13 and 22 points respectively, taking advantage of the T-wolves second-half lapse to outscore the home side 35-25, including a span of 17-2. Worthington had the double double with 10 boards.
"We don't concentrate and lose our heads and everything gets frazzled," said Van Koughnett. "Once it gets frazzled it's hard for us to get it back together."
The psychology major used her experience on the court to help contain the emotions of her younger teammates when the Mariners were pushing.
"I just tried to slow it down," said Van Koughnett. "We were in the lead and just needed to get some stops and just slow down their offence. The clock's our friend."
Jennifer Bruce and Emily Kaehn led the T-wolves with 12 points each, while Kady Dandeneau had 11 points.
Jones said she was unsure why the Mariners came out so slow, but vowed the rematch Feb. 12 will be different.
"We didn't play to our full potential at all," said Jones, 20. "In the first half we came out soft and they were getting easy baskets. It's going to be different at home for sure."
The T-wolves led 35-17 at the half.
In men's action, the T-wolves overcame a 24-10 deficit in the first quarter to lead the Mariners 39-34 at half-time in a game featuring nine lead changes. Francis Rowe led UNBC with 14 points and five rebounds, while Brandon Jones had seven points for VIU.
The Mariners went into the game with a 5-0 record, while the T-wolves (4-1) were trying to rebound after their first loss of the season.
With 6:02 left in the fourth quarter the Mariners led 70-58 over the T-wolves.
Tonight the Camosun Chargers are the visitors to the Northern Sport Centre with the women tipping off at 6:30 p.m. and the men at 8:30.
The women Chargers are 3-2 while the men are 4-1.
