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UFV Cascades women’s basketball wins at UBC, Victoria

Women on a four-game winning streak, men drop pair of games
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UFV’s Maddy Gobeil goes up for a bucket during the Cascades game against Victoria on Saturday (Feb. 12). (Photo by: APShutter.com)

The University of the Fraser Valley women’s basketball team kept rolling over the weekend and extended its win streak to four with wins over UBC on Friday (Feb. 11) and Victoria on Saturday (Feb. 12).

A remarkable second half comeback helped the Cascades to a 64-56 win over UBC.

UFV outscored the Thunderbirds 40-18 in quarters three and four to pace the victory.

The Cascades were led by Deanna Tuchscherer, who collected 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Natalie Rathler also had a strong game coming off the bench with 14 points and three steals.

“UBC really came at us hard, right off the tip,” stated head coach Al Tuchscherer. “They were playing the game at a whole different pace than we were, at both ends. We were not getting any stops, and they were really solid defensively, taking things away from us. I don’t think we really thought through what we needed to do – we were a little bit rattled in that time period. We just needed halftime to regroup a little bit.

We talked about making a couple adjustments offensively, and we settled down defensively. We were just more prepared in the second half to do what we needed to do. And then we were able to make some really big shots and make some really big plays.”

Turnovers hurt the Cascades, particularly in the first half and they committed 20, but managed to clean it up in the second half. UBC only managed 11 points from the 20 turnovers.

The second half also spelled success for the Cascades in Victoria on Saturday.

UFV outscored the Vikes 40-24 in quarters three and four en route to a 68-54 win.

Maddy Gobeil had a double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds. She also collected four assists and three steals. Deanna Tuchscherer also had a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards.

The Cascades held the Vikes to just 29.6 per cent shooting and dominated on the glass with a 45-35 edge in rebounds.

The women’s record moves to 12-2 and they sit in second place in the West Division of Canada West.

UFV and Victoria meet again on Friday (Feb. 18) and Saturday (Feb. 19) in Abbotsford. Games tip-off at 8 p.m. and 5 p.m. respectively. The women then head to Prince George to battle UNBC on Feb. 23 and 24.

It was an opposite story for the men, as they lost 91-82 to UBC on Friday and 94-57 to Victoria on Saturday.

Friday saw the Cascades made a late push, but despite outscoring UBC 22-13 in the fourth quarter, they were unable to close the gap.

Zubair Seyed scored a team high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the loss. The Cascades shot poorly as a team, making just 35.1 per cent of all shots on Friday.

“We’re at our best when the ball is flying and we’re getting up and down the floor,” Cascades head coach Joe Enevoldson stated. “A good defensive basketball team can grind it out, slow you down and limit you in transition, and UBC did that tonight. We’ve got to do a better job of hitting shots down the stretch.”

Saturday was the Cascades worst offensive output of the season, with zero players reaching double figures in points. Dylan Kinley and Aidan Wilson led the team with nine points apiece.

The Cascades were outrebounded 52-38 and again shot at just a 35.5 per cent clip. The Vikes had four players in double figures and shot 43.2 per cent from the field.

“They blitzed us from start to finish,” Enevoldson said. “Credit to them – they’re a very good basketball team. They’ve got veterans, they’ve got shooters, they’ve got a great rebounding presence. Flat-out, they kicked our butts. There was not one facet of the game where we were better than them tonight.”

The men’s record dropped to 9-7 after the pair of losses, but they have the opportunity to extract some revenge when Victoria comes to Abbotsford on Friday and Saturday. Games tip-off at 6 p.m. and 3 p.m. respectively.

RELATED: UFV Cascades sweep UNBC in Prince George



Ben Lypka

About the Author: Ben Lypka

I joined the Abbotsford News in 2015.
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