Identical 6-4 records for both the UNBC Timberwolves basketball has generated a little bit of a buzz heading into the post-Christmas push.
The women’s team have been led by a trio of prolific game breakers in Maria Mongomo, Madison Landry and Vasiliki Louka who all rank in the top 13 in scoring as of the semester break.
However, it’s the team as a whole that should be getting all the credit said Head Coach Sergey Shchepotkin.
“I think it’s not correct for people to say that we just have a big three. We have a good team this year and those three are scoring more than others because they’re teammates help them be in the situation that they can score.”
The Timberwolves shot out like a cannon to begin the 2018-19 season with six straight victories and getting national recognition ranking in the U-SPORTS top ten for one week.
UNBC ended on a mini-slide to complete the first half losing consecutive times to both the Fraser Valley Cascades and the defending conference champion Saskatchewan Huskies.
Even with the four losses, nobody is pushing the panic button.
“I am happy with the quality of game we have shown right now, we are competitive not only in the Canada West but everywhere in Canada, we’ve played against the strongest team in the country and we’re ranked for one week so I can’t say we have some teams that we cannot play against in the second half.”
“It definitely helps us that we have the first four games at home but then we have two trips and play very strong teams like Alberta and UBC. We will try to show a good game and win.”
On the men’s side, the Timberwolves ended the first ten games on a high note winning their last game against the Saskatchewan Huskies in Saskatoon.
Despite their best start ever, UNBC bench boss Todd Jordan believes his team could have been even better.
“I think we could very easily be 7-3 and but being over .500 in this conference is a very good thing but we have a little bit of business to take care of heading into the second half as we want to get into the playoffs so that we can be ready to make that push.”
“Ultimately, our goal is to get ourselves to a point where we can host a playoff game in front of the City of Prince George and I think that would be something I would love to see and that’s what we’re looking for here.”
UNBC has one of the best rebounds in all of the conference with Vaggelis Louka sitting in third with over nine per contest.
Jordan says that part of their game is a key ingredient to the team’s success.
“Overall, I think we have rebounded the ball quite well, the two losses to Fraser Valley that was the one time where we kind of got beat up on the glass and lost those games but I think we have done a good job of that.”
The return of Wenatchee, Washington product Austin Chandler hasn’t hurt UNBC’s game inside the paint either, giving Jordan added flexibility with his bigger players.
“Having him and Vaggelis together has added a little more depth and a little more size when rebounding the ball and we’re also playing a little bit bigger in three spot with Jovan Leamy and he rebounds the ball quite well and is able to cover bigger guys.”
The Timberwolves return home for a home doubleheader January 4th and 5th at the Northern Sport Centre when they host the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack.