The first half was the stuff of nightmares for
Taylor Claggett and the University of the Fraser Valley women's basketball team, but a dynamite second half yielded the team's ninth straight win.
Facing the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on the road Saturday in Kamloops, the Cascades were treated to an incredible first-half shooting display by the hosts, who swished 11 three-pointers on their way to a 51-42 halftime lead. To put that outburst in perspective, the WolfPack managed more points in the first half than they had in the entirety of Friday's game,
a 75-50 UFV triumph.
At the other end of the floor, TRU did a great job of limiting Canada West scoring leader Claggett, who was held without a field goal attempt in the first half in the face of relentless double teams.
But after the break, Claggett and the Cascades found their groove. Claggett scored all 19 of her points in the second half to match teammate
Nikki Cabuco for game-high scoring honours, and UFV (14-4) limited the WolfPack (7-11) to 25 points the rest of the way.
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"We tried to just relax a little bit out there," Cascades head coach
Al Tuchscherer said, reflecting on how his team turned the tide in the second half. "When a team's just hitting shot after shot, you get rattled a little bit. We told the team to relax at halftime and just focus on what we wanted to do. And then inevitably, they (TRU) cooled down a little bit too."
The WolfPack were not known for their long-distance shooting prowess coming into Saturday's action – they ranked 14th out of 17 in Canada West in three-point percentage, hitting 26.9 per cent as a team. But in the first half, they shot the lights out, draining 57.9 per cent (11-for-19) of their attempts from downtown. TRU reeled off an 11-0 run late in the second quarter, highlighted by treys from Leilani Carney and Megan Roualt, and led big at the break.
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The Cascades, though, came roaring out of the locker room and needed just over six minutes to reclaim the lead, surging ahead 60-58 after a Cabuco triple. TRU's Jordan Wilkinson, though, banked in a contested heave from well beyond the arc at the buzzer, tying it up 65-65 headed to the fourth.
Cabuco opened the final frame with a pair of quick three-pointers, and Claggett took over from there, pouring in 10 points over the final 10 minutes as UFV pulled away for a comfortable double-digit decision. Their nine-game win streak is the longest active streak in Canada West.
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Claggett finished with 12 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season, and rookie point guard Cabuco went 5-for-9 from beyond the arc to establish a career high for points for the second straight night (she'd scored 16 on Friday).
Fellow first-year
Deanna Tuchscherer (14 points, 12 assists, nine rebounds) was just one rebound away from a triple-double,
Maddy Gobeil chipped in with 14 points, and
Amanda Thompson scored 11.
Emma Piggin (18 points) and Wilkinson (17) hit four treys apiece to pace the WolfPack's long-distance assault.
"I was really proud of Taylor's performance tonight,"
Al Tuchscherer said. "She was frustrated at halftime, and she was able to get herself composed and then have a real gritty performance. She really had to work for those points."
The Cascades basketball teams are back at home next weekend to host their final games of the regular season. They take on the Regina Cougars on Friday (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.) and Saturday (women 5 p.m., men 7 p.m.).
BOUNCE PASSES: Deanna Tuchscherer's 12 assists are tied for the second-most in a single game in program history. The record of 13 was set by Megan McAllister on Nov. 8, 2008 vs. Manitoba, and Aieisha Luyken and Celeste Dyck have both had 12 assists in a game.
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