A blue-collar effort paved the way for the University of the Fraser Valley women's basketball team to conclude its 2019 conference schedule on a winning note, defeating the Manitoba Bisons 76-65 on Saturday evening in Winnipeg.
The Cascades (5-3) dominated the paint, outscoring the Bisons (3-5) by a 40-14 margin from close range while out-rebounding the hosts 59-39. Twenty-five of UFV's boards came at the offensive end.
Four Cascades scored in double figures –
Taylor Claggett (16),
Deanna Tuchscherer (16),
Jessica Parker (15) and
Maddy Gobeil (14) – and Gobeil and Tuchscherer led the way on the glass with 15 and 13 rebounds, respectively.
"It was a real gritty effort tonight," said Cascades head coach
Al Tuchscherer, whose team had
dropped a 78-63 decision to the Bisons on Friday. "We rebounded the ball really well, and you could tell we played with a lot of determination. We battled for a lot of 50-50 balls. I thought we were a lot more mentally engaged tonight than maybe we were last night."
The Cascades held a 21-19 lead at the end of the first quarter after
Deanna Tuchscherer beat the buzzer with a three-pointer, but the Bisons hung tough and inched ahead 33-32 at halftime.
UFV opened the third quarter with an
Amanda Thompson triple, igniting an 11-3 run to open the frame. The Bisons, though, would draw back to within 49-48 heading to the fourth.
But after struggling to make shots for most of the evening, the Cascades caught fire in the final quarter, pouring in 27 points to pull away. Rookies Tuchscherer and Parker did much of the damage down the stretch, scoring nine and eight points, respectively, in the fourth.
Thompson finished the game with nine points on 3-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc for the Cascades, and did an outstanding job at the defensive end limiting Manitoba's Taylor Randall in the second half.
Lauren Bartlett (19 points) and Randall (17) set the tone offensively for the Bisons.
Coach Tuchscherer noted that the Cascades' offensive execution was much sharper in the second half, and praised the night-to-night growth of his rookies.
"I don't think Maddy or Parker were really happy with their performances on Friday, but they came out and played well tonight," he noted. "And Deanna was big in the fourth quarter for us.
"When you're a first-year and you're asked to play some important minutes, you've got to figure it out. It's not a league that's particularly friendly to first-year kids, so you see a lot of up-and-down play for the most part. But it was nice to see them learn from Friday and be better on Saturday."
The Cascades basketball teams now embark on the Christmas break, returning for a Jan. 3-4 doubleheader at home vs. the UBC Thunderbirds.
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