The UBC Okanagan Heat hope home court will produce the their first wins of 2015 in Canada West basketball action.
The Heat will host the Mount Royal Cougars this weekend at the Kelowna campus gym.
The women take to the floor Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m., while the men go at 8 and 7 p.m., respectively.
The UBCO men are coming off a pair of losses to the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack. On Friday in Kamloops, the Wolfpack prevailed 98-66.
Mitch Goodwin paced the Heat with 15 points, while former KSS teammate Buzz Truss had 12.
On Saturday, more of the same as TRU cruised to an 88-53 win, thanks in large part to a 33-7 run in the third quarter.
The Heat’s leading scorer, David Manshreck, sat out both games due to an injury. Attempting to pick up the scoring slack for UBC Okanagan was freshman Austin Penrose with 11 points, while Cameron Friesen added 10. The Heat are now 2-8 on the season.
Like the men, the UBCO women were victims of two losses to the Wolfpack in Kamloops—only by wider margins.
On Friday, TRU bolted out to a 60-17 halftime lead, then cruised to a 106-58 win.
Emma Piggin and Taiysa Worsfold each had 17 points for TRU, while Jessica Jarzdarehee led with Heat with 10.
On Saturday, no improvements, as the Heat fell behind 28-3 and went on to lose 103-61.
“We did not play very well,” said Heat coach Heather Semeniuk. “Our shooting was horrible, it is the worst it’s ever been, we couldn’t have gotten off to a worst start on Saturday.”
Jazdarehee had 13 points for UBCO with Vanessa Botteselle adding 11. The Heat are now 3-7 on the season.
