UNBC post Louka on top of her game
Last season they tasted playoffs for the first team in five years of playing university women’s basketball.
But that was just an appetizer for the UNBC Timberwolves. Their first trip to the Canada West Conference postseason ended almost as soon as it began in a two-game sweep.
Now, the expectations the T-wolves have put upon themselves mean just getting to playoffs won’t cut it. They expect to win, if and when they get there. But first things first, they need to win both games against the Fraser Valley Cascades this weekend to clinch a spot in the top-12.
“We’re not sure if we will be in a playoff position, so we are really looking forward to beating UFV and ending the regular season with two wins,” said T-wolves post Vasiliki Louka.
“Last year was the first time for the UNBC women’s basketball team to go the playoffs but it’s not enough for us to go there. We want to take the next step and go as far as we can.
“We had a rough schedule this year,” she said, “but the second half we got some wins to get some confidence in ourselves. We can beat any team, because we beat the best team in the country when we beat Regina (handing the Cougars their only loss this season, Nov. 18 at the NSC).”
The UNBC women blasted out of the Christmas break with a four-game win streak which ended last weekend in Victoria. They lost a couple of close ones to a Vikes team that’s now won 12 of 16.
The Cascades (6-10, 13th in Canada West) are considerably weaker than Victoria but they’re not so far behind the 10th-place T-wolves (8-10) that UNBC can afford to look beyond the next two nights UVic Vikes Haily Weaver looks to pass around UNBC Timberwolves forward Maria Mongomo during their U Sports Cnada West women’s basketball Saturday in Victoria. at the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre. The T-wolves have been watching film of the Cascades in action and Louka says they know what to expect.
“They have really good posts (Shayna Litman leads the Cascades while averaging 15.1 points per game and Taylor Claggett has a team-high 9.4 rebounds per game) so we need to be solid under the basket,” said Louka. “They have a lot of screens so we need good communication and to play really good team defence to have success this weekend.”
Louka is in her forth season since coming to UNBC from Athens, Greece and has blossomed under head coach Sergey Shchepotkin to become one of the top forwards in Canada. The 21-year-old public administration/government development major leads the conference in rebounding, hauling in an average 12.1 boards per game while averaging 17.9 points through 18 games, third-best in Canada West. With forwards Maria Mongomo and Madison Landry also scoring consistently, that takes some of the pressure off Louka to find the net.
“I feel more confident now trying to do the best for my team,” she said. “My coach (Shchepotkin) asked me to get as many rebounds as I can per game and I’m really focused on that. Maria and Maddy are really helping the team (averaging 17.1, fourth in Canada West), like Maria has done all the years she has been here. It’s really important to have three players scoring more than 15 points.”
This weekend’s regular season games will be the last in the careers of Kylie Pozniak, a fifth-year guard from Okotoks, Alta., and homegrown forward Emily Aase. Louka hopes T-wolves fans will show up in droves for the final sendoff of the graduating seniors.
“We always play better in our gym, we’re more confident and I don’t why,” said Louka. “I think all of our wins but two have been in our gym. Some of our players on our team (Aase, Landry, Emily Holmes, Kyla Giesbrecht and Alexis Magrath) are from Prince George and they’re proud to play for all their families and friends and that gives us an extra boost.”
Game time tonight is 6 p.m.