By Larry Read

TRU Sports Information Officer

KAMLOOPS, BC--- It took them seven games but the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women's basketball team have their first Canada West win of 2018.

The Pack ended a six game losing streak winning the biggest of games. With their playoff lives hanging in the balance, Thompson Rivers downed the Brandon University Bobcats on the Warner Rentals court at the Tournament Capital Centre.

The score on Friday night (Feb 2) was 80-73.  TRU had five players in double figures led by Michelle Bos (4^th year, guard, Surrey, BC).  She had a season high 24 points and was named the TRU Bookstore/McDonalds "Leader of the Pack" player of the game.    Brandon had 19 points from Keisha Cox  (5^th year, guard, Oceanside, CA) and Lauren Anderson (4^th year, forward, Winnipeg, MB).

 SYNOPSIS

With the WolfPack knowing they would have to sweep the weekend to make the post season, they jumped out to an early 5-0 lead thanks to a three pointer by Emily Vilac (4^th year, forward, Kamloops, BC).  She had a team high five points in the quarter as TRU led 21-17.

In the second quarter, the Pack opened up a 10 point lead with less than five minutes to go in the half (34-24). Thompson Rivers outgunned Brandon 27-16 in that second quarter. Bos scoring 10 of her 12 first half points in that quarter.  Anderson of the Bobcats had four rebounds (3 on defense) in the second quarter alone to give her seven for the game at that point.  The Bobcats had turned over the ball 10 times in the first half compared to TRU's 4. Cox and Anderson pacing Brandon with 7 first half points apiece.

Both teams came out fired up in the third quarter.  But it was Brandon who outgunned TRU 27-19 thanks to 10 points from Cox and six out of Anderson.  Shenise Sigsworth (5^th year, forward, Kamloops, BC) hitting a buzzer beater to give them a seven point lead (67-60). The Bobcats tightened their defence and turned over the ball only twice in the quarter compared to TRU's six.

In the fourth,  TRU opened up a 13 point advantage with seven minutes left (73-62), The Bobcats tried to capitalize on some cold WolfPack shooting. Anderson getting some key offensive rebounds and points to cut the deficit to 9 (73-64) with four minutes remaining.  The Pack came up with some key blocks in the quarter including one with three minutes left by Emma Piggin (4^th year, guard, Kamloops, BC). 

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:

click here

KEY STATS:

Thompson Rivers :

Michelle Bos: 24 points, 8 rebounds (6 def), 5 assists, 1 block, 4 steals: 37 mins

Shenise Sigsworth: 11 points, 4 def rebounds, 6 ass9sts, 2 steals: 35 mins

Emma Piggin:  11 points, 4 rebounds (2 either side), 1 steal: 28 mins

Jordon Haggerty: 11 points, 3 def rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal: 27 mins

Leilani Carney: 10 points, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal:31 mins

BRANDON:

Keisha Cox: 19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals: 33 mins

Lauren Anderson: 19 points, 12 rebounds (10 on def),2 assists, 2 steals: 27 mins

Keegan Robinson: 10 points, 5 rebounds (3 defense), 1 assist: 21 mins

Hailey Maas: 9 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal: 19 mins

Turnovers:

TRU:     14              BRANDON:  20

Score by Periods:

TRU               21   27   19   13  --80

BRANDON:  17   16   27   13  --73

RECORD:

TRU:      8-11             BRANDON:  2-17

QUOTES:

TRU Assistant Coach Chuck Ferguson::

On the Contest: " Certainly a tale of two halves. We turned over the ball a little more than we would have liked. I thought the girls played hard on the defensive end and kept pushing the ball. That was the difference. We could get the ball in transition a little quicker than they were able to get back. Certainly in the fourth quarter, that helped keep things even."

On how the girls showed emotion with the importance of the final weekend:  "You want your team to take pride in what they were doing. Certainly pride in representing TRU. I think the girls did that tonight. They knew what was on the line and they came to play. Really gutty performance. Five kids in double figures. Michelle Bos was outstanding tonight. The people we needed to be good were good."

Video of post game interview:  click here

Brandon  head coach Novell Thomas (6^th season):

On the difference in the game: " I am proud of our second half effort. We got down early and started to extend our defensive pressure and got it close. We have to be better taking care of the ball."

Who stood out for you?"  We got good efforts out of Keisha Cox and Lauren Anderson. Other players defended well and really helped spark the comeback were Keegan Robinson and Kinsley Ransom. They are veterans for us. We expect them to know what to do in crunch time situations. We got down too early in the first half and it took too much in the second half."

Video of post game interview:  click here

UP NEXT:

The WolfPack will close out the Canada West regular season tomorrow (Sat Feb 3) when they meet the Bobcats again on the Warner Rentals court at the Tournament Capital Centre. Tip off is 5 pm.  Following the game, Thompson Rivers will honor their lone fifth year player, forward Shenise Sigsworth (Kamloops, BC) who joined the program from Sa-Hali Secondary.