Women’s Basketball:

UBC 74, TWU 52

What happens when you combine swine flu and sport? Not the most exciting basketball game, that’s for sure.

The UBC Thunderbirds Women’s basketball team began their 2009/2010 season battling Spartans, sickness and vomit, but managed to come out with a 74–52 victory over Trinity Western University on Friday at War Memorial Gym.

“Our defence created our offence for us,” said UBC Head Coach Deb Huband, who began her 15th season as coach of the Thunderbirds with a victory. “We weren’t cutting well, and were having difficulty making the plays we needed, but we did what was necessary to pull out that win.”

Both teams were slow and sloppy, (and not in the way most students are on Halloween) with 61 turnovers in the 40 minutes. For those not math-inclined, that’s one turnover every 45 seconds. For those not sports-inclined, that’s a terrible number.
But despite the uneven play, the T-Birds showed the 1200 in attendance why they are expected to be in the mix in the competitive Pacific Division. Alex Vieweg hit nine of 11 shots for a team-high 18 points. Fifth-year guard Candice Morrisset had nine turnovers to only three assists.

UBC’s only hiccup came early in the fourth quarter, as Trinity got back into the game by scoring seven straight points at the start of the fourth quarter, making the score 54-47. However, UBC pulled away, ending the game on a 20–5 run.

“You could tell that we have a lot of flu and had a lot of people fighting lethargy and energy levels,” said Huband. “In the second half we hit the wall physically and mentally and we really had to dig deep.”

If there was one player who personified the game for UBC, it was sophomore guard Lia St Pierre, who had 17 points and a team-leading eight rebounds. Even more impressive?

“I started the game feeling fine, and halfway through I started to feel something in my stomach, and I wasn’t getting a break because the play kept going…It got to a point where I just had to run off the court.” And after a quick throw-up, St. Pierre was back on the court.

A fine display of intestinal fortitude, to be sure. And it’s one of many reasons why Huband believes the Moncton, New Brunswick native will be a star at UBC for years to come.

“She is only in her second year but she finished last year very strong and will have a really solid career, and we saw her separate herself from the rest of the players on the court today.”

Pierre, though, was just happy with the win.

“We’re going through a lot of sickness, but that isn’t an excuse…coming out with a win was great, and sets the tone for the season.”

Men’s Basketball: UBC 71, TWU 44

There was audience participation in a horror film last weekend, but instead of Rocky Horror at the Norm, it was basketball at War Memorial Gym.

”Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye” alternated with “Warm up the bus!” as the chants of choice for the 1750 fans late Friday night, while the UBC Thunderbirds began their 2009/2010 season with a 71–44 destruction of their rivals from Trinity Western University (TWU).

“That was a good team that came into our gym, and we took care of them,” said Graham Bath after the game. Did they ever.
How impressive was UBC’s victory? Well, first consider that Trinity Western’s lowest point total in one game all of last year was 61. Then consider that the Spartans were expected to contend for the Canada West Championship after going 17–6 last season. Then consider that the Thunderbirds held Trinity to 15 of 50 from the floor, and forced them into 29 turnovers.

It was putrid. It was vile. It was the sort of performance that loops like a bad horror film in the mind for those on the losing end.

And head coach Kevin Hanson loved every minute of it.

“I was really happy with our defence, I thought we had a couple great quarters of really disciplined, really tough nosed defense, and they had to work for every point,” he said.

It only took a few minutes for TWU to start wishing they could do the timewarp, as UBC frustrated the Spartans from the very beginning, forcing them into a number of charging fouls and playing tough, physical defence. After a tough few minutes to start the offensive, the Thunderbirds broke through at the end of the first quarter, going on a 12–3 run to take a 14–7 lead.

The second quarter was no different, as UBC continued to outplay and outhustle Trinity, taking a 34–13 lead into halftime. Jacob Doerksen, last year’s CIS Player of the Year, was never able to get into a groove, shooting three for ten on the game and committing eight turnovers, neutralized by UBC forwards the entire game.

“I knew he was going to be good, knew he was going to physical, and so I came in saying that I was going to be more physical. And I think I did that,” said Graham Bath, who was assigned to Doerksen at the start of the game.

Josh Whyte and Blain LaBranche led UBC with 16 points each, and Kyle Watson had a team-leading six rebounds.