Lethbridge - The Lethbridge Pronghorns dared one of the worst three-point shooting teams in Canada West to beat them with the long ball and UBC answered the call, going 10-20 from behind the arc, to propel the Thunderbirds to a 81-60 win at the 1st Choice Savings Centre Friday night.
Canada West third-leading scorer Kris Young contributed 19 for the T-Birds and fourth-year guard Cassandra Knievel led all scorers on the night with 20 points. Fifth-year standout Kim Veldman, who leads the conference in scoring, had 17 points and 6 rebounds to pace the 'Horns.
The win improves the Thunderbirds record to 6-3 while the Pronghorns drop to 4-7 with the loss.
The Pronghorns deployed a 2-3 zone that worked early on, forcing long-range jumpers and limiting the T-Birds to just 5-13 shooting in the 1st quarter. Both teams looked rusty coming off the long semester break, committing multiple turnovers and missing open shots in the early going. UBC came out with a 17-13 lead after one, with fourth-year forward Adrienne Parkin leading the way for the T-Birds with six points on 3-4 shooting.
UBC opened up a 21-13 lead to start the second quarter, but a three-pointer by Zoe Dahl, a baseline jumper by Veldman, and a lay-up by Allexia Barros kept the game close and brought the Horns back to within one.
The Thunderbirds responded with a run of their own as Young hit a pull-up jumper and followed that up with a three to extend the lead back to eight. After a turnover-filled final two minutes, Knievel nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to put the T-Birds up 33-21 at the half.
The run continued for UBC coming out of the break as the T-Birds pushed the lead to 16 just 90-seconds into the 3rd quarter. Fifth-year post Harleen Sidhu led the charge for UBC with 12 points on 5-7 shooting early in the third quarter. The turnover-plagued 'Horns couldn't get anything going offensively as UBC did a good job getting into passing lanes and preventing leading scorer Veldman from getting the ball down low.
UBC was firing on all cylinders in the second half, going 9-9 from the field at one point, including back-to-back threes from Knievel, to push the lead to 25. Knievel would drain four from behind the arc in the 3rd quarter as the T-Birds shot a scorching 80% from the field.
The 4th quarter was more of the same as UBC continued to hit the long ball and come up with timely turnovers. Second-year Pronghorns' Zoe Dahl and Mariah Miller came to life in the second half, scoring 10 and 9 points respectively to pace the 'Horns attack. But it wasn't enough to keep up with the red-hot shooting T-Birds, who ran away with a 21-point victory.
Coming into the game, UBC had made the second-fewest three-pointers in the conference and shot just 26% from behind the arc. The Thunderbirds shot 50% overall on the night, including half of its three-point attempts.
The Pronghorns shot 41.2% from the field and held the edge in rebounds, 33-29. Dahl (13), Miller (11), and Barros (11) joined Veldman to score double-digits on the night.
The two teams meet again Saturday night at the 1st Choice Savings Centre with the tip-off scheduled for 5:00pm. The game will also be webcast on www.canadawest.tv