There is something to be said for age and experience.
Despite bone-chilling temperatures and snow-covered roads, the Fraser Valley Cascades gave PG basketball fans a glimpse of what could be down the road for the UNBC Timberwolves.
In women’s action, UFV used their depth and clutch shot-making to secure 77-56 and 77-51 road wins over UNBC from Brownridge Court at the Northern Sports Centre.
On Friday, the Cascades built up a 44-30 lead at halftime and never looked back riding the coattails of fifth-year star Maddy Gobeil who had game-high 23 points and seven rebounds.
Esther Allison and Julia Tuchscherer also chipped in with 13 and 12 points respectively. Sarah Kuklisin and Viiktoria Filatova had 12 points each in defeat for UNBC.
Sveta Boykova tallied six points and 13 rebounds for the Timberwolves,
The Timberwolves committed 21 turnovers in the loss.
It was much of the same for the second half of the double-header. However, it was Bernie Leda’s turn to drive the bus for Fraser Valley.
Leda went 7-for-12 on field goals, picking up a game-high 22 points. Gobeil, her partner in crime, wasn’t too far behind with a 20 point effort that also included eight boards.
Julia Tuchscherer hooped 14 points and eight rebounds for the 13-5 Cascades. UNBC drops to 4-12.
Filatova was the high scorer for the Timberwolves with 17. Fraser Valley was 10-for-28 from three-point range while UNBC was a paltry 2-for-19.
The UNBC men didn’t fare any better against Fraser Valley dropping 90-67 (Friday) and 94-65 (Saturday) decisions.
Dario Lopez was the star of the show during the Friday matinee that featured 1,000 screaming kids from School District 57. Lopez’ 17 of his 25 points came in a magical third quarter. The Spanish native was a monster on the glass too with 12 rebounds.
Ismael Hernandez, Clay Kurtz and Arpan Singh reached double-digit points. Singh’s performance was the most impressive going 4-for-5 from beyond-the-arch.
Evgeny Baukin picked up 16 points in defeat for UNBC. Chris Ainsley and Josh Gillespie chipped in with 13 and 10 each.
On Saturday, the Cascades (9-9) were led by rookie Dilveer Randhawa who had an efficient 20-point night in just 21 minutes of action – this included a 6-for-9 showing from three-point range.
Ismeal Hernandez (17), Matthias Klim (10), Lopez (13), and Takeshi Croke (11) all had 10 points or more in the win.
Baukin once again put the youthful Timberwolves on his back with a 23-point performance.
UNBC head coach Todd Jordan (1-15) was forced to dress eight first-year players due to nagging injuries to star guard Justin Sunga and hulking forward Will Keyes.
Both varsity teams are back in action next weekend when they take on the Trinity Western Spartans.
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