Rams fall to the Thunderbird in their CIS Championship debut

QUEBEC CITY (CIS) – The UBC Thunderbirds and most notably Canada West MVP, Kris Young, put forth a commanding performance Thursday afternoon at the PEPS Gym of University Laval. Her 40 points – a school record – help defeat the Ryerson Rams 81-59 in the second quarterfinal matchup of the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS Women's Basketball Final 8.

The second-ranked Thunderbirds will now face the No. 3 seed McGill Martlets in the first semifinal Saturday at noon. A six-time national champions, the Thunderbirds look to better their previous tournament result which ended in a final loss in 2012.

UBC Thunderbirds head coach Deb Huband was just happy to finally play at this year's Final 8. "It's nice to get the first game under your belt. There was a lot of intensity last week at the Canada West finals and we were happy to get on the floor and get going."

 "Kris is a complete player. She is a very good defender, rebounder, competitor, and scorer obviously. She is our fifth-year leader on and off the court," added Huband about her star player. "She is a three-time All-Canadian and there's a reason for that, and you could see it on display in today's game."

In their first appearance at the CIS Championship, the Rams will now continue their journey in the consolation round Friday at 6 pm against the Saint Mary's Huskies.

Despite the loss, Ryerson head coach Carly Clarke was happy with her team's effort. "We're obviously disappointed with the loss, but I thought we battled pretty hard. We had some defensive breakdowns and Kris Young had a huge game," said Clarke. "We didn't execute defensively what we wanted to do early and she got going. Once a player of her caliber gets it going, she is pretty tough to stop."

UBC's Kris Young displayed in the first half why she was voted player of the year in the Canada West conference. Young managed to score 26 of the Thunderbird 39 opening half points knocking down 10 of her 11 shots, in addition to five free-throws.

Despite Young's tremendous effort, the Rams managed to stay in the game, battling to keep the score within four after the first quarter. The T-Birds widened the gap and headed into the break ahead 39-33

The second half started much the way the first half did, with Young having the hot hand. In the third quarter alone, she added 12 points to her game high of 40 with four three-pointers in a row. This time around, Young and the T-Birds were too much for Ryerson to handle as UBC managed to pull ahead 60-44 after three.

To start the fourth, the game was no longer in doubt as the Thunderbirds managed to add to their 16-point lead. Ryerson tried to mount a late surge but UBC's strong defence coupled with a 21-point fourth quarter gave the Rams no chance, as the Thunderbirds prevailed 81-59.
 
STAT LEADERS

UBC 20-19-21-21:81
RYE 16-17-11-15: 59

UBC
Points: Kris Young (40), Kara Spotton (14), Diana Lee (8)
Rebounds: Harleen Sidhu (9), Adrienne Parkin (8)
Assists: Cassandra Knievel (5)

Player of the game: Kris Young

Ryerson
Points: Keneca Pingue-Giles (20), Sofia Paska (14), Silvana Jez (10)
Rebounds: Keneca Pingue-Giles (8), Mariah Nunes (7)
Assists: Mariah Nunes (3), Cara Tiemens (3)

Player of the game: Keneca Pingue-Giles

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Thursday, March 12
12:30 Quarter-final 1: No. 3 McGill 67, No. 6 Saint Mary's 59
14:30 Quarter-final 2: No. 2 UBC 81, No. 7 Ryerson 59
18:00 Quarter-final 3: No. 8 Laval vs. No. 1 Windsor (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 
20:00 Quarter-final 4: No. 5 Alberta vs. No. 4 Saskatchewan (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 

Friday, March 13
18:00 Consolation 1: No. 6 Saint Mary's vs. No. 7 Ryerson (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 
20:00 Consolation 2: Loser QF 3 vs. Loser QF 4 (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 

Saturday, March 14
12:00 Semifinal 1: No. 3 McGill vs. No. 2 UBC (Sportsnet ONE / www.CIS-SIC.tv) * 
14:30 Semifinal 2: Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4 (Sportsnet ONE / www.CIS-SIC.tv) * 
16:30 5th-place game (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 

Sunday, March 15
10:00 Bronze (www.CIS-SIC.tv)  
13:00 Final (Sportsnet 360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv) * 

* The ENGLISH webcast of the semifinals & final are on pay-per-view basis. The French webcast is free.