The University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat have drawn first blood in their Canada West women's basketball weekend series with the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack. On Friday night (Nov 25) on the Warner Rentals court at the Tournament Capital Centre, the Heat took down the Pack 60-49.

SYNOPSIS

It was a battle of the two geographical rivals and a pair of teams who entered the game with identical 1-5 records.  UBCO was up 29-27 at the half.   They were led by Emily Kanester (5^th year, guard,Vernon, BC) who had 17 points and eight rebounds.  TRU's main offensive threat was Emma Piggin (3^rd year, guard, Kamloops, BC) with 12 points.  Emily Vilac (3^rd year, forward, Kamloops, BC) had a 'double double' with 10 points and 10 rebounds (eight on defense)

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:

(click here)

KEY STATS:

UBCO:

Emily Kanester: 17 points, 8 rebounds (7 on defense), 1 assist, 1 steal, 6-6 (FT-FTA)  33 mins

Claire Elliot: 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 4-4 (FT-FTA) 27 minutes

Chloe Kennedy: 10 points, 6 rebounds (4 on defense) 1 block, 2 steals: 25 minutes.

Thompson Rivers :

Emma Piggin:  12 points,  9 rebounds (5 on offense), 5 assists, 1 block, 1 steal  32 minutes

Emily Vilac: 10 points, 10 rebounds (8 on defense), 2 assists, 3 blocks: 31 minutes

Chelsey Hoey: 6 points, 11 rebounds (7 on defense), 1 assist, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 30 minutes

 Turnovers:

UBCO 16    TRU  18

Score by Periods:

UBCO         16    13   17  14      60

TRU            13    14   11   11      49

RECORD:

UBCO   2-5       TRU 1-6

QUOTES:

TRU Coach Scott Reeves:

On the Contest: "We weren't offensive rebounding at all and we weren't shooting enough to not offensive rebound. When you combine those things, we dug ourselves a little bit of a hole and when we needed three's to drop they weren't dropping. We did rebound the ball better in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter but really, you can't shoot percentages like we shot."

UBCO head coach  Claire Meadows:

On the difference in the game: "We continued to attack. We talked at half time about attacking and getting into the paint. I thought we kept the tempo.  That was the difference down the stretch."

On Importance of Victory:  "Any win is an important win during the season. It is nice to pull out some close games. We struggled at the beginning of the season. We have been in some tight games but I feel our composure is getting better. That was nice to see."

On Play of Emily Kanester: "It was nice to see her knock down a couple of shots. She is our leader and we need her down the stretch. That is what she is on the team to do. It was nice to see that."

UP NEXT:

The  WolfPack  and Heat will wind up their weekend series Saturday (Nov 26) on the Warner Rentals Court at the Tournament Capital Centre. Tip off will be 5 pm.  You can see the game on a pay per view basis by logging onto  WWW.CanadawestTV.  The pre-game show will be on the air around 4:45 pm.

Next weekend (Dec 2-3)  Thompson Rivers will head to Prince George to take on the TimberWolves.  UBCO will visit UBC.

OF NOTE:

This was the fifth game of the President's Cup Series: which pits UBCO and TRU in all Canada West sports. Heading into the game, following the soccer season, the schools were tied at 2 wins a piece.   Missing from the WolfPack bench was longtime assistant coach Chuck Ferguson. He was absent as he was celebrating his 30^th wedding anniversary.  The "TRU Bookstore/McDonalds  Leader of the Pack" Player of the game was Chelsey Hoey (2^nd year, forward, Parksville, BC).