The University of Victoria Vikes women鈥檚 basketball team was at that stage and managed to complete that tough task as Nicole Karstein pumped in two of her 14 points, with 5.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter, as the hosts pulled out a clutch 72-71 win over their rival UBC Thunderbirds on Friday night at CARSA performance gym.
The victory snapped a four-game losing skid as the Vikes improve to 6-9 on the sa国际传媒 West season, now tied with UBC in the Pioneer Division.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we鈥檝e been talking about all week,鈥� coach Dani Sinclair said of facing that adversity. 鈥淥ur girls showed that tonight. Our leaders showed that tonight, that when you鈥檙e down, that鈥檚 really the only option. You have to keep swinging and keep fighting.鈥�
They showed plenty of fight battling back from a 42-32 deficit at the half. They never regained the lead until Karstein slipped in back-to-back baskets midway through the fourth quarter to make it 65-63 Vikes.
Adrienne Parkin connected on two free throws for UBC with 19.8 seconds left to secure a 71-70 lead, but that鈥檚 when Karstein and Co. came through.
鈥淚 jokingly told Nicole it made up for her travel moments before,鈥� said Sinclair with a chuckle. 鈥淪he was awesome and Jenna B. [Bugiardini], too. Like we鈥檝e said all year, those two have led all year long and man, did we ever need that one.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been a pretty dark place over the last couple of weeks and I think we just fought. That was the difference tonight.鈥�
Bugiardini finished with a game-high 28 points, while Amira Giannattasio added 21. Diana Lee had 21 for the T-Birds. Veteran Vike Jenna Krug came up with a pair of key defensive stops in the dying minutes as well.
鈥淪he has a lot on her shoulders and she has me in her face most of the game. No matter what she faces, she keeps fighting and we need that at the defensive end,鈥� Sinclair said of Krug.
On the winning basket, Karstein 鈥� who also had 10 rebounds 鈥� took the in-bound pass and missed her first chance, but fought through it for the second opportunity. Krug then got her hand on UBC鈥檚 final attempt that fell way short.
鈥淚 was like, someone needs to get the ball and as long as we can get a shot off, maybe we can get a foul or a score,鈥� said Karstein, setting up the final offensive possession for the winners.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a couple of tough weekends. We鈥檝e had good practices this week and it finally showed that we are able to pull out a tough win against a really good team.鈥�
As for the Vikes men, they fell 79-51 to No. 9-ranked UBC and have now lost five of their last six games.
Victoria is now 7-8, but did get some help from Lethbridge (8-5), which crushed Alberta (7-7) by a 93-61 count.
Grant Sitton led the Vikes with 13 points. Philip Jalapoor had 16 and Victoria product Conor Morgan added 15 for UBC, which improves to 11-4.
The teams meet again today with the women beginning at 5 p.m. and men to follow at 7 p.m.
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