By Sarah Taylor

The University of Winnipeg Wesmen opened up weekend play with a 69-62 victory over the No 2 ranked UBC Thunderbirds Friday night at the Dr. David F. Anderson Gymnasium in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg with the victory improves to 5-2 in regular season play, currently in second place in the Canada West Women's Basketball standings. UBC with the loss drops to 3-2.

Third year guard Megan Noonan led the Wesmen with 17 points, including three-three pointers. Fifth year guard Stephanie Kleysen added 14 points and a team high eight rebounds. Skylar Boulanger also figured in double digits finishing with 10 points.

The T-Birds were led by fifth year guard Kris Young's game high 18 points. Adrienne Parkin added 12. Harleen Sidhu led the team in rebounds with 10.

The opening half was a close battle with neither team giving the their opponent any breathing room. UBC gained the advantage early on leading 20-17 after the opening quarter. Winnipeg outscored the T-Birds 16-15 in the second frame to trail 35-33 at the halftime break.

Winnipeg connected on 48% from the field in the opening half, while the T-Birds connected on 46% of their shots.

After the halftime break, the two teams resumed their battle with UBC outscoring the Wesmen 18-17 to carry a 53-50 lead into the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter Megan Noonan scored 10 of Winnipeg's 19 points, including a pair of deep three pointers to help Winnipeg outscore UBC 19-9 in the final frame to make the final tally 69-62.

The teams will do battle once again on Saturday night at 5:00 p.m.