The University of the Fraser Valley men’s and women’s basketball teams completed a clean sweep of the Brandon Bobcats, with two wins apiece on Friday (Jan. 26) and Saturday (Jan. 27).
The pair of victories for both clubs were crucial, with the Canada West playoffs looming in late-February.
The women opened with an 85-36 win on Friday and took over the game in the second quarter by outscoring Brandon 26-0.
UFV’s Maddy Gobeil had 26 points on 12/14 shooting from the field and added five steals and five assists. Deanna Tuchscherer had 15 points, while Google Sidhu contributed with 11.
The Cascades hot 47.4 per cent from the field and dominated in the paint with 60 points. The Bobcats shot just 20 per cent from the field in the loss.
The strong play continued on Saturday, with UFV posting a 101-47 win. The Cascades outscored Brandon 57-14 in the second half.
Julia Tuchscherer led all players with 19 points to go with seven rebounds and Sidhu had another strong game with 17 points. Gobeil (16) and Esther Allison (12) also reached double-digits for UFV. The Cascades again shot well, making 53 per cent of all shots from the field.
“At halftime a big focus was our defence,” Allison said after. “We didn’t want to give up any more open three’s and just get after it on defence, and then from there transition it into offence. I think we did that pretty well. We were getting more hungry on the defensive side of the floor and then we pushed the ball and made good transition layups.”
The women’s record now improves to 13-3 and they sit in fourth place in Canada West. The top four teams receive a first round playoff bye.
The men bounced back and snuffed out a three-game losing streak with a 101-92 win over Brandon on Friday.
The Cascades jumped out to a 29-16 lead after one and never trailed for the rest of the game.
Matthias Klim had a monster game with 33 points and seven rebounds, while Dylan Kinley scored 20 points and recorded nine assists. Hans Befus also added 18 for UFV.
The Cascades shot a red-hot 56.7 per cent in the win and collected 56 points in the paint.
“For our guys to see success at this point in the season against a very good basketball team is huge, and they earned it,” stated Cascades head coach Joe Evenvoldson. “They executed the gameplan, and we had some guys that really stepped up and played well. Ultimately, I’m just proud of them. We played hard, and I thought we played really well tonight”
Saturday saw the Cascades erase a 19-point deficit in the second half to earn an 86-81 win.
Kinley led UFV with 31 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Dario Lopez had a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards. The Cascades out-rebounded Brandon 43-35 in the win.
“That was a galvanizing weekend,” Enevoldson stated. “We have been on the other end of those a lot this year, and it was nice to play against a team that has a very good record and for us to play the way we did in the first night was great, but to follow it up was better. When we went down in the first quarter tonight, we just chipped away at it. We showed a lot of heart, and congrats to our guys. They earned it.”
The men improve to 6-10 on the season and currently occupy the 12th and final playoff spot in Canada West.
The teams next travel to Calgary for games against the Mount Royal University Cougars on Friday (Feb. 2) and Saturday (Feb. 3). They then close out the season with two games each against the TWU Spartans in Abbotsford.