ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – Two clean looks from beyond the arc in the dying seconds drew iron for the UFV Cascades, allowing the UBC Thunderbirds to escape with a 76-74 victory in Canada West women's basketball action on Friday evening.

In an entertaining back-and-forth battle between local rivals, the T-Birds improved to 8-3 behind 19 points from senior point guard Jessica Hanson. The Cascades (5-4) received a game-high 19 points apiece from forwards Taylor Claggett and Deanna Tuchscherer.

The two teams renew hostilities on Saturday at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre (5 p.m., CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op).

"It's really a missed opportunity more than anything," Cascades head coach Al Tuchscherer said afterward. "We're going to have to get to a point where we stop talking about the youth of our team. We're just another CW basketball team that's trying to win games. Whoever we have on the floor, we have high expectations of what's going to happen. I'm sure it was an entertaining game, but in the end, ultimately a disappointing game.

"I just think we made way too many errors at the defensive end of the floor tonight where we gave up open looks or layups. When you're trying to beat a good team, you're not going to be able to allow stuff like that."

The Cascades built a 24-19 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to some hot shooting from Deanna Tuchscherer, who scored nine points in the frame. The T-Birds tightened things up defensively in the second – they limited UFV to four points over the first five minutes, rallying to take a 41-39 lead into halftime.

The Cascades surged in the third, going up 57-53 after a Taylor Claggett bucket in the paint, but the T-Birds would once again close the gap, and they reclaimed the lead in the fourth quarter as five straight Keylyn Filewich points gave them a 71-67 edge.

UFV hung tough, and a clutch three-pointer from Maddy Gobeil off an inbounds play with 32 seconds remaining cut the deficit to 76-74. An over-the-back foul on UBC's Madison Legault on the ensuing possession gave the Cascades the ball back with just under 20 seconds left. After Gobeil's attempt from beyond the arc came up short, Claggett tracked down the rebound and fed Nikki Cabuco, but her triple also drew iron at the buzzer.

The Cascades went with four rookies – Tuchscherer, Gobeil, Cabuco and Jessica Parker – alongside senior Claggett in the last three minutes of regulation. Cabuco stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals, and Gobeil also scored eight points.

Hailey Counsell (14 points), Maddison Penn (12), Filewich (10) and Gabrielle Laguerta (10) joined Hanson in double-digit scoring for the T-Birds.

"It was a great 40-minute basketball game," UBC head coach Deb Huband noted afterward. "We had a bit of a slow start, but in the second quarter we ended up coming back and taking a lead, and it was back and forth the rest of the way. I think both teams showed some strong team play, some grit and determination and some desire to win. It was anybody's game at the end . . . I'm happy we came out with the win, and we'll go at it again tomorrow."