T-wolves put undefeated mark on line

6-0 to start the season. Actually it’s 14-0 if you include the preseason.

Either way you slice it, the UNBC Timberwolves are off to an unprecedented start, and the rest of the country’s university women’s basketball watchers are taking notice.

This week the T-wolves were ranked 10th in the U Sports national poll – the first time in the team’s seven-year history in the university ranks they’ve made the list.

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“Of course it’s exciting, but we shouldn’t care too much about that,” T-wolves guard Lucy Guan told UNBC sports information officer Rich Abney. “We want to keep working. There are a bunch of adjustments to our offence, we need to continue working on our defence and our team chemistry.”

The Canada West conference leaders will take that perfect record onto the court with them tonight in Abbotsford, where they face the Fraser Valley Cascades (3-5) in the first of a two-game weekend set. The T-wolves are averaging a league-high 87.7 points and have given up an average 66 points per game, second-stingiest in the league.

“UFV has some good shooters so we will need to close out on that,” said Guan. “They also have a couple bigs who are very good on the boards so we will need to make sure we box out. We have been working on playing as a team. Last game we played well defensively, so we hope to continue that.”

The UNBC men are also in action tonight and Saturday on the same court against the Cascades. Like the women, they are coming off a pair of wins last weekend at the Northern Sport Centre against the Trinity Western University Spartans which improved their record to 5-1 – their best-ever start. The T-wolves are third in Canada West, having played two fewer games than the first-place Calgary Dinos (8-0) and second-place UBC Thunderbrds (7-1).

“I think we are pretty happy with our start to the season,” said UNBC guard Tyrell Laing. “We had one slip-up there, but we are looking to continue the momentum we have built over the first six games into this weekend against UFV.”

The Cascades (4-4) are among three teams tied for ninth in the conference and Laing, now in his third season, expects the winning to continue in both games.

“This is the deepest team I have ever played on,” he said. “Scoring can come from multiple positions. But more than the scoring is our defensive depth. This is the best defensive team I have played on in my time here. We have a lot of athletes who want to play defence.

“I think we have another gear. There hasn’t yet been a game where we are all clicking at the same time. We have a lot of potential for that to happen soon, because it hasn’t happened yet, and I am looking forward to that.”