It was a night to remember for rookie Madison Landry as she scored seven straight points to the lead the UNBC Timberwolves in Canada West Basketball action 82-81 over the Trinity Western Spartans from the Northern Sports Centre on Saturday.
UNBC was down 74-57 late in the third quarter and also trailed by 12 with just under 5 minutes to play before capping off a 14-3 run to seal their first win of the season.
Kylie Pozniak put the rally into full swing with a three-point play to cut the Trinity Western lead to nine.
MYPGNOW caught up with Landry after the game and says their lunch-bucket attitude pulled them through.
“We were down a little bit so to come back we just kept pushing and pushing and which is the kind of team we have this year. We have been working hard in the pre-season and is just very nice to get a win.”
Landry adds it also helped being in a similar spot last weekend at home against the Alberta Pandas which was an 82-80 overtime loss. “I think that helped because we got a taste of it last weekend and this we pushed out with the win and is exciting.”
Spartans Head Coach, Cheryl Jean-Paul says they lost control of the game in the 4th quarter when they were unable to dictate the tempo. “We had the game at hand and I do not know if I have seen that many three points plays in one quarter, that was extraordinary, you can handle a few of those but there at least 6 or 7 in that quarter.”
“It is a good opportunity for us to learn from this, we have had some solid wins and some good battles but a loss like this will allow us to revaluate our shot selection at the end of the game and how we chose to play with a lead.”
Vasiliki Louka was the top scorer for UNBC with 19 points while Tessa Ratzlaff had 21 points in defeat for Trinity Western.
Cedars Christian grad Kayla Gordon who also plays for the Spartans netted 20 points.
UNBC outscored TWU in bench 34-12 and outrebounded them 44-27 overall.
On the men’s side, the UNBC Timberwolves disposed of Trinity Western by a score of 85-70 sweeping the two game set at home.
The turning point in the game was a 33-15 run by the Timberwolves in the third quarter.
Terrace product Marcus Mackay led UNBC in points with 26 including a 6 for 12 showing from beyond the arch.
Head Coach, Todd Jordan says it was nice to get rewarded from three-point range after a less than spectacular showing in the first half. “I thought we got really good looks in the first half and the way we play we are a 3-point shooting team, we are small and have to space people out.”
Jordan adds it was a big relief to redeem themselves on home court after a tough weekend against Alberta.
“We needed to get this done this weekend in order to stay in the mix and anytime you win a couple games guys start to feel a little better but we need to make sure we do not get overconfident.”
T-Wolves Point Guard, James Agyeman says jumping on a mentally fragile team like the Spartans was a big key.
“We knew mentally they were kind of kind so they get kind of chippy very quick so we tried to push the ball and get into them a little bit and they eventually broke and cracked.”
The UNBC men improve to 2-4 while the Lady Timberwolves are 1-5.
Both head to Abbotsford next weekend to play the Fraser Valley Cascades.
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