Friday, Nov. 15: Cascades (0-2, T-15th in Canada West) vs. UBC Okanagan Heat (1-3, T-11th in Canada West), 6 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 16: Cascades vs. Heat, 5 p.m.
Envision Financial Athletic Centre / South Gym
Webcast: CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op

The Cascades women's basketball team looks to leverage home-court advantage this weekend as they clash with the UBC Okanagan Heat.

The UFV squad dropped its first two regular-season games on the road to a tough, veteran-laden Winnipeg Wesmen team, and they've spent the past two weeks back on the practice floor, prepping for their first opportunity to play in front of their home fans in the Canada West regular season.

The Heat, for their part, are coming off a home-court split with the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.

"It's exciting because we haven't played our first league game with this group yet at home, so I'm excited to see how we do," Cascades fourth-year guard Amanda Thompson said.

"Early on, we expected that we weren't going to be in perfect form as a team because we're a young group and we have things to figure out. We're not focusing on the results, but more on the process. The two weeks of practice we've had through the bye weekend, we worked on things we need to work on, and it was nice for us to step back and look at the big picture again."

Players to watch: Senior forward Taylor Claggett is off to a strong start to the CW campaign. The Mission, B.C. product is currently tied for fifth in conference scoring (18.5 points per game) and ranks second in both rebounding (13.5) and assists (5.0) – the only player, at this early juncture, to rank in the top five in all three categories. The Heat have gotten outstanding play from rookie centre Jaeli Ibbetson – she's the only player in CW ahead of Claggett in rebounding at 14.0 per game, and she's leading her team and ranks seventh in the conference in scoring (17.5).