Heather Semeniuk UBC Okanagan women’s basketball squad earned a split in Prince George on the weekend and will head into the holiday break with a 3-5 record in the Canada West conference.
On Friday, the Heat controlled play from start to finish in a 72-58 victory over the UNBC Timberwolves.
The Heat tallied four players in double-digits and were led by third year guard Jessica Jazdarehee who drove her team to victory with 17 points and five rebounds. Sarah Allison added 15 points, Kayla McFadden added 13 points and six rebounds, while Shenelle Tamminen chipped in 12 points off the bench.
The Heat was also solid defensively.
“Better team defense was a focus of ours before the game and I think we did a good job carrying that out,” said Jazdarehee postgame. “Better rotations and collapsing on ball…full court press helped too.”
On Saturday, UBCO couldn’t repeat the effort and fell 76-70 to the T’Wolves.
Down by 23 points at the half against the hot-shooting UNBC squad, the Heat rallied over the final 20 minutes but came up just short in the end.
“Unfortunately (UNBC’s hot start) really hurt our offensive flow and we lost our focus on getting defensive stops,” said Heather Semeniuk, who is in her final season coaching the Heat.
“The second half was ours. We outscored them 40-23 and got it down to a three point spread with about four or five minutes left.”
Allison put up a team high of 17 points while Angela White added 12.
After the holiday break, UBC Okanagan will travel to Thompson Rivers University for a double-header against the WolfPack.
Heat men
The UBC Okanagan men came up empty in two games against UNBC and will head into the semester break with a 2-6 record.
On Friday, the Heat was outscored 27-6 in the second quarter en route to an 83-74 loss to the Timberwolves.
Mitch Goodwin was the Heat’s leading scorer with 18 points, nine in the first quarter, and six rebounds. David Manshreck chipped 15, while Aldrich Berrios contributed 17 points from the point guard position.
On Saturday, the Heat again fell behind early and couldn’t recover in a 69-63 loss.
UBCO, which trailed 31-20 at the half, was paced by Manshreck who finished with a game 28 points and six rebounds. Goodwin added 14 points and nine boards.
After the holiday break, UBC Okanagan will travel to Thompson Rivers University for a double-header against the WolfPack.
