Thunderbirds connect in Cuba
TURNAROUND: Women’s team on four-game win streak following trip to Caribbean
The UBC Thunderbirds had to get unplugged before they could get dialed in.
The women’s basketball squad was reeling before the Christmas break, losers of five consecutive games, the last three by an average of 23 points.
Nerves were raw, faces were downcast.
But the players bonded when they found themselves cut off from the outside world on a team trip to Cuba over the New Year’s break.
“When we got there, we found there was no internet service, there’s no Wi-Fi, there was no cell service, it was just our team,” forward Keylyn Filewich said. “With technology nowadays, it’s really hard to just ‘be’ there, because you have your phones and everyone’s talking to everyone on the internet.
“It was nice. We sat down and played cards every night as a team, and it kind of bonded us as a team in a way that staying in Vancouver or at home couldn’t have.
“We were all really grateful to have gone on the trip and live life without the internet for a week, and just get a chance to know each other on a deeper level.”
Refreshed, recharged and tanned after playing a few exhibition games in Havana, the Thunderbirds (10-12) returned home to Vancouver and have gone on a four-game win streak, beating Lethbridge twice on the road and MacEwen twice at War Memorial. It’s the longest win streak of the season for UBC, who travel to Kelowna to face UBC-Okanagan (0-16) this weekend, before returning home to close out the regular season against the UVic Vikes (12-4) on Feb. 1-2.
Filewich, a Winnipeg native who is averaging 15.5 points per game and 8.1 rebounds per game — the latter fourth best in the country — pointed to the Cuba trip as a turning point.
“The feelings in practice and on the court seem more comfortable and relaxed. Before it was kind of frantic and chaotic at times,” she said. “Now we know we can rely on each other, we trust each other more, and all together we just jibe in a way that wasn’t there before.”
The key to the turnaround has been a commitment to defence.
Overall this season, when allowing opponents to score more than 70 points, the T-Birds are 1-11.
When holding opponents under 70 points, they’re 10-0.
In their first home game back from the break, a 64-39 decision over MacEwen, UBC stifled the Griffins in the opening frame, holding them to five points.
After an 11-point second quarter, the Birds put the clamps on again in the third, limiting MacEwen to six points.
“It was just a small glimpse of what we can do defensively. If we build on that quarter, and turn it into two, to three, to a whole 40 minutes, I think we’ll put ourselves in a really good position,” said Filewich.
“The offensive end, that may be more skill work, but the defensive work, that’s all heart. It’s all hard work and effort. If you do that, you’re good, you don’t have to do anything miraculous, you just have to do your end.”