VANCOUVER -- The No. 4 UBC Thunderbirds defeated the Brandon Bobcats with a decisive 78-54 result in Canada West women's basketball action at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver on Friday night.

With this victory under their belts, the Thunderbirds now hold a record of 8-3 and are tied with the Saskatchewan Huskies for fourth place in the conference. Brandon falls to 3-10.

So far, 2015 has been kind to the T-Birds: They are on a three-game winning streak and have won by over 20 points in each of these games.

UBC had four players finish with double-digit offensive contributions this evening: Harleen Sidhu led her team with 18 points, with Kris Young (16), Kara Spotton (12) and Adrienne Parkin (11) close behind. For the Bobcats, the standout performance came from the third-year Silver Spring, Md., native Alyssa Montgomery, who scored 17 points for her team.

After Sidhu put her team up 8-3 in the early parts of the first quarter, the Bobcats responded with a bucket from Mikaela Stanton and free throws from Montgomery. Brandon took a 16-14 lead into the first-quarter break by scoring the final five points of the period, a run capped off by a Kaela Cranston three-point bucket with 15 seconds left.

However, the UBC began to turn the tide in the second quarter, going on a big 17-5 run to open up a 12-point gap. Seven players contributed field goals to the run while an eighth added a foul shot. The 'Birds outscored the Bobcats 23-11 in the second quarter to take a 10-point halftime lead.

"We picked up our defensive intensity a lot in the second quarter and got a little bit more aggressive," explains UBC head coach Deb Huband.

This positive trend continued into the second half of the game. With their lead now well established, UBC continued to run tight defence which prevented the Bobcats from effectively running their plays. The Thunderbirds continued to push until the dying minutes of the match. Montgomery's jumper early in the third quarter cut the home side's advantage to just eight points at 41-33 but Brandon never got any closer.

Despite the stellar performance, Huband is eager to push her team even further: "We need to get better every time we're on the court. We trying to build consistency all the time, and that's the focus for tomorrow."

The Thunderbirds and Bobcats will meet again tomorrow for the rematch. The action gets underway at 5 p.m. PT at UBC's War Memorial Gym.

IMAGE CREDIT: Wilson Wong/UBC Thunderbirds