The University of the Fraser Valley women's basketball team outlasted the Lethbridge Pronghorns in a physical slugfest on Saturday evening, grinding out a 59-52 victory to wrap up a weekend sweep.
The Cascades, coming off
a 69-58 win on Friday, turned in a strong defensive effort, holding Lethbridge to 30.8 per cent shooting from the field and forcing 29 turnovers.
The Pronghorns, for their part, also did a lot of good things defensively, limiting UFV to 33.3 per cent from the field. But for the second straight night, the Cascades (4-2) got great production from their forwards as
Taylor Claggett notched 17 points to go with 10 rebounds and
Deanna Tuchscherer scored 14.
Jessica Haenni poured in a game-high 18 points and added four steals for the Pronghorns (5-3), and Jessica Zarowny had 12 points and five boards.
"I'm really happy for the girls tonight," UFV head coach
Al Tuchscherer said. "We had to win a game in a little different style tonight. Lethbridge came out and were pretty assertive right from the beginning. The game was close throughout, and I thought we showed a lot of composure down the stretch to get a really solid win."
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The physical tone of the game was set in the first quarter, with the Pronghorns grabbing an early 6-2 lead, weathering a 7-0 UFV run, and responding with a 7-0 surge of their own. The Cascades would work their way back into the lead, going up by as many as five in the second quarter, but Lethbridge closed to within 25-23 at the break.
Rookie point guard
Nikki Cabuco hit a pair of clutch triples midway through the third quarter to help the hosts surge ahead 40-32, and they would repel every Pronghorns flurry from that point. Lethbridge's Haenni drained a jumper in the paint with less than three minutes left in regulation to draw her team to within 51-49 and put the pressure on the Cascades, but UFV responded with a clutch floater from
Maddy Gobeil, a Claggett free throw, and a strong move to the bucket from Tuchscherer to restore a seven-point advantage and seal the result.
Pronghorns head coach Dave Waknuk noted that turnovers were "the backbreaker" for his team.
"It just felt like we could never find flow over the two days," he said. "We talked a lot about trying to find a tempo or flow, and we just couldn't find it. You come down, you work your butt off on D, and then you come down and spit the ball up, it's tough to get anything going.
"That's the strength of UFV. They play a very physical style that drains you and takes a lot of energy out of you. I think they played their style well, and they executed. I give them credit – they controlled the pace with their physicality on defence and made it tough for us to score."
Jessica Parker had a strong all-around performance for the Cascades, stuffing the stat sheet with seven points, six steals and five rebounds, while
Amanda Thompson (four points) spearheaded a defence that held Pronghorns leading scorer Kacie Bosch off the scoresheet in the first half and limited her to just five points for the game.
"A player like
Amanda Thompson maybe doesn't get her due as a defender in our conference, but I've seen her do that for many, many years," Tuchscherer noted. "When she gets locked into an assignment, she's as good a defender as we've ever had in our program."
Katie Keith had a big game on the boards for Lethbridge, hauling in a game-high 11 rebounds to go with six points.
The Cascades basketball teams wrap up their first-semester schedule on the road next weekend, as they visit the Manitoba Bisons for a Friday-Saturday set. The Pronghorns, meanwhile, will be coming back to B.C. to face the UBC Thunderbirds.
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