Breaking their offensive drought in the second semester the Heat women's basketball sailed to a 15-point victory, scoring 68 points, dousing their Alberta host, Mount Royal, 68-53.
Friday, January 15th, 2016
Kenyon Court, Calgary, AB
FINAL 1 2 3 4 T UBC Okanagan (8-3) 23 15 15 15 68 Mount Royal (1-11) 9 13 13 18 53
CALGARY, AB- UBC Okanagan women’s basketball claimed their third straight win and second from the Cougars (61-44) on the road this Saturday night on Kenyon court. The win is the Heat's fourth against MRU this season, sweeping the season series, and gives the Kelowna squad a conference record of 8-3 while dropping Mount Royal's record to 1-11.
After a close call last night, the Heat were brought their best effort early on. They ran out to a 12-3 lead, helped in large part by the play of Kayla McFadden and Claire Elliott. The Cougars had no answer for the Heat on defence and trailed 23-9 after the first quarter.
Captain Emily Kanester stated the Heat's " focus was on tenacity, owning the boards and taking advantage of the opportunities we had from breaking the press."
In the second quarter of the game the Cougars found more of a rhythm and were able to effectively move the ball and knock down some open looks. The Heat only outscored Mount Royal 15-13 in the quarter and led 38-22 at the half.
It was more of the same in the third quarter. Both teams alternated running the floor and pushing the pace on offence. However every time the Cougars scored, the Heat had an answer. For the second quarter in a row the Heat outscored the Cougars 15-13.
Mount Royal mounted a serious comeback in the fourth and final quarter. Angela Driscoll worked the ball around nicely with Becky Nash who continued to be Mount Royal's only offensive threat inside. With four minutes left, the Cougars cut the lead to 12 points. However the lead proved to be too much and UBC Okanagan prevailed 68-53.
The Heat found more success shooting the ball in tonight's match up compared to their Friday nights game. The Heat were able to shoot (22-63) 34.9 percent from the field compared to their (14-63) 22.6 percent in Friday’s game. The Heat were also able to improve their shooting from beyond the arch and went from the field (6-25) 24 percent compared to their (3-17) 17.6 percent on Friday.
The Heat had four of its players reach double digits in tonight's game. Captain, Claire Elliott led the team with 16 points. Elliott went (6-13) 46 percent from the field which was a contributing factor in tonight's win. Elliott was also able to claim three steals for her team and six rebounds. Senior Kayla McFadden followed Elliott with 13 points. Chloe Kennedy had 12 points and shot (5-11) 45 percent from the field and captain, Emily Kanester had 11 points.
The Cougars were once again led by Beck Nash who had 15 points and six rebounds. Angela Driscoll had eight points and Brooke Lister and Yasmene Saghir followed with six points each.
The battle on the boards in tonight's matchup was similar to Friday's match up as UBCO hauled in 37 rebounds to the Cougars 33.
Captain Emily Kanester stated "UNBC will be hungry for a win so will will be looking to take care of the ball" in next weekend's match up.
The Heat will continue their campaign on the road next weekend against UNBC where they will go head to head with the TimberWolves at Charles Jago Sporting Centre, tip off is at 6 p.m. (Jan 22).
~ Tia Sadler // Heat Communications // with notes from Justin McCaffrey, Mount Royal Cougars Sports Information