Timberwolves extend streak of success
Four straight wins to start the new year has the UNBC Timberwolves women’s basketball team thinking it’s destined for the U Sports Canada West playoffs once again.
The red-hot T-wolves reeled off their fourth win of 2018 Saturday on the cold Manitoba prairie in Brandon, where they defeated the University of Brandon Bobcats 76-71.
The T-wolves erased an 11-point Brandon lead in the fourth quarter to complete the twogame sweep. Vasiliki Louka and Maria Mongomo hit layups and Kylie Pozniak followed that with a three-pointer which cut the gap to three. Louka nailed a pair of foul shots for a 68-68 tie with two minutes to play and the lead changed a couple times before Madison Landry put UNBC ahead to stay with 1:19 left and the T-wolves hit a few more foul shots to put it away.
The teams were tied 35-35 at the half.
Mongomo led the UNBC cause with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Landry contributed 19 points and five assists. Louka sunk 18 points and hauled in 16 rebounds. For the Bobcats, Lauren Anderson finished with 19 points and had nine rebounds and Amy Williams had 17 points.
The win evened the T-wolves’ record at 8-8, moving them up to ninth place in Canada West. They edged Brandon 66-65 on Friday. The Bobcats (2-11) remained 15th in the 17-team conference. The top 12 teams make the playoffs.
The UNBC men lost 89-76 in Brandon, splitting the two-game set. Jonathan Range set the bar offensively with 22 points and Tyvon Cooper and Troy Grant each picked up 18 points. For UNBC, Volo Pluzhnikov had a 16-point game, James Agyeman fired 15 points and Vaggelis Loukas finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.
UNBC trailed 45-44 at the half and 6560 after three quarters. The T-wolves were outscored 44-32 in the second half. Loukas’s layup made it a four-point game with 4:38 left but the Bobcats were ahead by seven with two minutes left and closed the game on a 6-0 run.
UNBC won 85-79 on Friday. Saturday’s win moved Brandon (7-7) into 10th place, one up on the 11th-place T-wolves (7-9).
Both UNBC teams will travel to Victoria to play the Vikes Friday and Saturday.