Clinched
author: nathan mccarville | sports writer
Get low on d / nathan mccarville
Cougars sweep UBC Okanagan Heat in two game series
The Cougars have had a big weekend on their homecourt, playing against the University of Okanagan Heat. Winning both games in the weekend, the Cougars beat the Heat by a large margin in both of these games.
In the first game, the game ended with a result of 86-53 in favour of the Cougars. Top scoring players for the Cougars were Kyanna Giles with 25 points, Angela Bongomin with 15 points, followed by Carolina Goncalves and Kyia Giles with 7 points each. The Cougars were ahead form the start, nearly doubling the Heat’s score in the first two quarters, attaining 22 points in the first against Okanagan’s 13, and 24 in the second compared to Okanagan’s 11 points for the quarter. Maintaining a six-point lead for the third quarter and a five-point lead in the fourth quarter, the Cougars arrived at their final score and their first win of the weekend with a margin of 33 points.
The Cougars then improved upon their previous results in the second game against the Okanagan Heat. With effective defense, the Cougars defended their net, improving upon their previous margin, the game ended with a result of 82-43 in favour of the Cougars. With a margin of 39 by the end of the second game, the Cougars were ahead by the half, leading themselves into another victorious face off against the Heat. Top scoring players again included Kyanna Giles with 20 points in this game, and Angela Bongomin with 14 points. Faith Reid also played with distinction in the second game against Okanagan, getting 15 points in the game.
Currently, the Cougars regular season record sits at 11 wins and just three losses against Canada West teams. Two weekends ago, the Cougars were working off of a seven-game streak. Thinking this would mirror last year’s 13-game win streak in the 2017-18 season, until the last game of the conference against the Huskies stopped the streak from reaching 14. Unfortunately, what stopped the Cougars from attaining a similar streak was a single game against the University of Victoria Vikes, who won their second game against the Cougars by a single point, the Jan. 5 game ending with a result of 70-69 in favour of the Vikes.
Moving on and ignoring the symbolic and statistical importance of streaks, the Cougars currently stand at fourth place in their Canada West Conference. Of the 17 teams in Canada West’s conference, the Cougars have only six games until the Canada West play-in and semi-final games. The Cougars are behind only the Calgary Dinos in first, the Saskatchewan Huskies in second, and the Alberta Pandas in third. The Cougars can prepare for their well-earned spot among the playoff teams. Playing against the TRU Wolfpack this upcoming weekend on Jan. 18 and 19, the Cougars prepare to play against the team ranked 13th in Canada West with four wins and ten losses.
The next home games the Cougars are set to play is against the Saskatchewan Huskies where they will see what team deserves what place in Canada West, on Feb. 1 and 2.
