They played a flawless first half and were rewarded with a lopsided victory.
The UNBC Northern Timberwolves beat the Camosun College Chargers 71-48 in a Friday semi-final at the PACWEST Athletic Association women's basketball championship. On court at Capilano University in North Vancouver, the Timberwolves built a 38-16 lead in the opening 20 minutes and didn't allow the Chargers to cut into that advantage as the game progressed.
The key to the dominant first half was defence. The Timberwolves were constantly in the faces of Camosun shooters and forced them to take tough shot after tough shot. During the half, the Victoria-based Chargers made just six of their 25 attempts from the field.
"We kind of made a pact that we were going to D-up because defence wins games," said fourth-year UNBC guard/forward Kady Dandeneau. "We never have a problem scoring, really, so it was all about our defence."
In the second quarter, UNBC outscored Camosun 23-9.
"We were playing our game," Dandeneau said of the second quarter. "We had pressure up on the ball and then as soon as they picked it up everyone else was denied. That got us a couple easy steals, which led to fast-break lay-ups. That's exactly the game we want to play."
On offence, Dandeneau contributed 14 points to the UNBC cause. But, the T-wolves were led by second-year forward Sarah Robin, who pumped in 19 points. The highly-athletic Robin has been the team's hottest shooter in the past few weeks and her confidence showed against the Chargers.
"She has just really come into her own," Dandeneau said. "She's got a great first step on everyone and she's just beginning to realize it. I'm glad this is when she chose to peak."
Aija Salvador led the Chargers with 19 points. Friday's victory moved the Timberwolves into today's championship game. The top-seeded T-wolves will take to the court at 6 p.m. against the No. 2 Vancouver Island University Mariners of Nanaimo. Earlier Friday, the Mariners got past the Capilano University Blues 59-54 in
overtime. In the regular season, the Timberwolves lost just one of 16 games and that setback came at the hands of the Mariners, who beat them 73-57 on Feb. 11 in Nanaimo. Earlier in the year in Prince George, UNBC downed VIU 60-52.
With the B.C. championship and a berth in nationals on the line, T-wolves head coach Loralyn Murdoch is expecting
another slugfest with the Mariners.
"They are very, very good," she said. "They kind of took it at us last time we saw them so we have some redemption to be had.
"We just need to stay composed and we need to keep being aggressive," Murdoch added. "In the second half of the year, our best offence was running the ball. We ran it much better after we played the Japanese [Under-18 national team in January]. That's got to be something we keep in our game plan - keep trying to run. VIU is tall, they don't crash hard offensively, they get back, but I still think there are ways we can keep penetrating on that."
The Canadian Colleges Athletic Association nationals are March 15-17 in Lethbridge. The Timberwolves have been to the national tournament once before, in 2007-08 in Nova Scotia.
