Victoria Jacobse played the hero in the dying seconds, as her basket – plus the foul – lifted the University of the Fraser Valley women's basketball team to a 55-53 exhibition victory over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.

With the host Cascades trailing TRU 53-52 and with possession on a baseline inbounds, Amanda Thompson fed a slick pass to Jacobse cutting to the hoop, and the fourth-year guard finished through contact as the clock ticked inside of four seconds. She hit the ensuing free throw, and UFV secured the win after the WolfPack missed a long three-pointer at the buzzer.

Jacobse's clutch bucket capped a furious rally by the Cascades, who had trailed by 10 points (22-12) after the first quarter and by 11 (33-22) at the break.

Rookie forward Deanna Tuchscherer caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 10 of the Cascades' 15 points in the frame as they cut the deficit to 40-37. Fifth-year Taylor Claggett took over in the fourth, scoring eight points to pull UFV closer, setting the stage for the Thompson-Jacobse connection for the winning points.

Getting the win did little to sooth head coach Al Tuchscherer's concerns about his team's slow start, which has been a recurring pattern in the preseason.

"I really wasn't very happy with the game, other than the last couple minutes where we played hard and got ourselves back into position to win," he said. "The first 38 minutes, from our standpoint, were not executed very well at all. . . . We're putting ourselves in holes, and it's tough to recover from that."

Deanna Tuchscherer finished with 15 points, Claggett scored 11, and Thompson had eight for the Cascades. Emma Piggin paced the WolfPack with 14 points, and Leilani Carney added 11 for the guests.

The two teams wrap up their weekend exhibition series on Saturday (1 p.m., EFAC).