The Russian connection of Sveta Boykova and Viktoriia Filatova were in fine form for the UNBC Timberwolves women’s basketball team.
Unveiling a new season home court for the first time, Boykova recorded 15 points and 12 rebounds while Filatova had a team-high 20 points in a 61-51 victory over the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack on Sunday at the Northern Sports Centre.
The T-Wolves rewarded the home crowd with a 7-0 run to start the game. The first official Canada West bucket at Brownridge Court was an awesome ‘And 1’ finish for Sarah Kuklisin. Sophia Fuller and Bella Mesquita each followed with buckets.
With the score 16-7 for UNBC, the WolfPack found some life. Priyanca Sundher started the TRU rally with a triple, and both Olivia Randall and Allison Hansen followed up with a pair of free throws.
TRU outscored UNBC 16 – seven in the second quarter. Six of the 16 came from Kovacevic and Randall hit an early triple in the opening minute which put TRU ahead.
After leading at halftime, the Wolfpack led by as many as 13 to begin the third quarter until UNBC started to erupt on both sides of the court.
It was Kuklisin who finished off a layup followed by back-to-back three-points shot by Filatova. Boykova and Filatova continued their solid efforts and erased the 13-point deficit.
Both players continued the momentum into the fourth quarter dashing all hopes of a TRU comeback.
Brynn Dergousoff, in her Canada West debut, notched 6 points and was a force defensively adding six rebounds in 18 minutes of action.
Danijela Kovacevic tallied 13 points in defeat for TRU.
In men’s action, the UNBC men lost an 88-85 nailbiter to the Wolfpack.
Five different WolfPack players reached double-digits in offense with Asher Mayan leading the way with 17.
In addition, UNBC’s Evgeny Baukin led all scorers with 22 points while Chris Ainsley set a new career-high in points with 17.
Josh Gillespie led the T-Wolves with 11 rebounds while Darni Farinloye had nine for TRU.
At the end of the first quarter, TRU held a slim 15-14 lead over UNBC. UNBC began the game on a 4-2 run thanks to makes from Chris Ainsley and Josh Gillespie. Six of the next 10 points for UNBC came from Baukin who connected on a trio of layups.
After falling behind 25-16 at the halfway point of the second quarter, the TWolves ended the half on a 15-8 run.
It was bookended by a pair of Ainsley threes.
Both teams traded baskets and leads in the third with TRU holding a 56-55 lead.
Early layups from Mayan and Erin Chamble helped push TRU ahead 63-57 in the fourth, but Ainsley’s fourth triple of the day and a layup from Justin Sunga moved UNBC back within one.
Steve Stinson quieted the crowd with a triple for TRU, pushing the lead back to two possessions.
Ainsley’s fifth three of the night moved UNBC within one before the Pack started hitting some deep shots of their own including threes from Denis Bachurin and Simon Crossfield pushed TRU’s advantage to seven (74-67).
A single free-throw from Sunga, and a layup from Baukin got UNBC back within four. Baukin hit another layup and Isaiah Bias hit two free-throws, tying the score at 74 with a minute remaining.
In overtime, Sunga and Dami Farinloye swapped early buckets on the opening possessions of overtime, and then Baukin hit a layup to push UNBC ahead by two.
A three from Bachurin restored a one-point TRU followed by a Chamble free-thrown moved TRU’s lead to 80-78. The T-Wolves answered with a smooth finish from Baukin in close off a Gillespie feed.
Back came the ‘Pack with a layup from Mayan, but UNBC answered with a pair of successful free-throws from Baukin (82-82).
TRU would close out the game with six consecutive points to secure its record to 1-1. Sunga hit a buzzer-beating three from half court but it wasn’t enough as UNBC falls to 0-2.
On Friday, UNBC dropped a 91-71 decision to UBC Okanagan. Sunga tallied a team-high 21 points in defeat while Jalen Shirley hooped 22 points for the Heat.
In women’s action, the Timberwolves fell 84-64 to UBCO. Filatova notched 19 points in the loss. The Heat were led by the Lauren Foullong who had 23 points.
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