The UBC Okanagan Heat managed a split weekend games with the rival Thompson Rivers Wolfpack in Canada West women’s basketball.
On Friday in Kamloops, the visiting Heat prevailed 60-49 over TRU at the Tournament Capital Centre.
Fifth-year guard Emily Kanester paced the Heat attack with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Fellow fifth-year Chloe Kennedy added 10 points and six boards, while Claire Elliott had 11 points and her four steals giver her 22 on the season, good for fifth in the conference.
Second-year post Jordan Korol, controlled the glass with 10 rebounds in UBCO’s second win of the season.
“Any win is an important win during the season,” said Heat head coach Claire Meadows. “It is nice to pull out some close games. We struggled at the beginning of the season.
“We have been in some tight games but I feel our composure is getting better. That was nice to see.”
On Saturday, the hometown ‘Pack returned the favour with a 67-60 win.
Kanester and Korol each had 13 points for UBCO. Korol finished with a double-double, hauling in 12 rebounds, for her fourth straight game with double digits on the glass.
The Heat (2-6) will close out the first semester with two games this weekend in Vancouver against the UBC Thunderbirds.
Heat men…
The Heat men were close Friday night but still came up empty in a two-game Canada West set against the hometown TRU Wolfpack.
Twenty-seven points from Aldrich Berrios wasn’t enough Friday, as the Wolfpack erased a 12-point fourth quarter deficit en route to a 78-75 win.
Berrios, who had 18 points in the first half, hit for three at the 7:49 mark of the fourth to put UBCO up 69-59.
Up 12 with six minutes to play, the wheels came off for the visitors as the WolfPack finished the game on a 17-2 run to steal their second win of the season.
On Saturday, the Heat (1-7) struggled in the second half on the the way to a 68-53 loss to TRU.
Shooting just 5-for-24 in the final 20 minutes allowed TRU to wear down a solid UBC Okanagan defensive effort and send the to their seventh straight defeat.
Offensively Mitch Goodwin led the way for the Heat with 19 points and a team-high share with six rebounds. Austin Penrose and Spencer Thomas both had six boards also while Penrose added 10 points.
“I think we competed for the first half and we couldn’t handle their physicality on the offensive glass,” said Heat coach Peter Guarasci. “We gave up a lot of O boards and gave them too many second chance points and points in the paint.”
The Heat will head to Vancouver this weekend to play the No. 2-ranked UBC Thunderbirds in the final games before the holiday break.
