With their backs up against the wall, the UNBC Timberwolves women’s basketball team refused to say die against the Trinity Western Spartans.
A 12-2 run in the fourth quarter capped off a dramatic 80-78 victory against the Spartans on Friday, becoming the first women’s basketball team during UNBC’s tenure in the Canada West Conference to win a playoff game.
“That is a very, very good team,” Timberwolves Head Coach Sergey Shchepotkin said post-game. “They shot the ball really well in the second half. It felt like they didn’t miss. All five players on the court can shoot for them, but we did what we could. We didn’t give up, and it was big.”
The Timberwolves jumped out to a 39-34 halftime lead before Trinity Western came out of the break outscoring UNBC 24-15 in the third quarter to find themselves with the upper-hand heading into the final 10 minutes.
UNBC managed to scored 26 fourth quarter points to seal the deal in Langley.
“The game is forty minutes, and whatever happened, we promised each other we would all keep doing our jobs,” said Shchepotkin.
“There were three or four times this game that we were down eight points. We asked each other not to give up. To play as a team. It worked today.”
Maria Mongomo came up huge once again with a team-high 29 points.
Madison Landry and Vasiliki Louka also put up a combined 39 points in the victory.
Trinity Western was led offensively by Tessa Ratzlaff who collected 20 points in 36 minutes of action.
UNBC advances to the second round and will play the Calgary Dinos on Friday.