Matt Packwood, Brandon University Athletics

BRANDON, Man. – The UBC Thunderbirds won the battle on the boards in a big way Saturday night to pick up an 85-56 win and the weekend sweep over the host Brandon Bobcats.

While Brandon came out of the gates with energy on both ends of the court it was short-lived as UBC outscored Brandon in the remaining three quarters, saving their best shooting percentage for the fourth at 52.9 per cent.

UBC managed more offensive boards than Brandon had total, pulling down 25 on the offensive end for 53 total. Brandon managed just 21 boards on the night.

The T-Birds also won the turnover-steal ratio, managing 16 steals as a team to Brandon's eight.

Despite the lopsided stats the T-Birds gave the Bobcats credit for showing signs of fight all weekend.

"Those girls really stepped it up in the first half and it was a credit to those girls," says T-Birds fourth-year guard Madison Penn. "At the half we just spoke about our defence and our defensive principles that we've been working on the whole week of practice."

The weekend sweep clinches UBC's spot in the playoffs which Penn says has the group looking firmly ahead.

"I think we've really put on a good run the last couple of games. We worked really hard in December and we've seen those improvements so that just motivates us even more," Penn adds.

Penn and Keylen Filewich both finished with double-doubles, Penn putting up 15 points and 12 rebounds while Filewich finished with 16 points and 11 boards.

Jess Hanson led all scorers with 18 points while Hailey Counsell finished with 10 points.

Brandon was led by Hailey Maas' team-high 13 points while Adrianna Proulx contributed 10 points.

The win gives UBC nine in a row to move to 12-4 in conference play. Brandon falls to 2-14.

The Thunderbirds head home for a weekend series against the UNBC Timberwolves while Brandon heads to Edmonton for a pair of games against the MacEwan Griffins.

Photo courtesy Milana Paddock