Scanning the box score following Saturday's exhibition game vs. the Brock Badgers, University of the Fraser Valley women's basketball coach Al Tuchscherer saw a lot of what he termed "ugly stats."
The Cascades shot the ball dreadfully, connecting on just 23 per cent of their attempts from the field, and turned the ball over 24 times.
But at the bottom of the stat sheet was a set of numbers which reflected better on UFV: 49-47, the final score of their victory over their St. Catharines, Ont. opponent.
"We're a long, long way from where we need to be," noted Tuchscherer, whose team has legitimate CIS national championship aspirations this season.
"But this was an elite team that's probably going to be top-five in the country, and to hold them to 47 points and find a way to win, that's a positive thing."
Sarah Wierks (17 points, 12 rebounds), Aieisha Luyken (10 points) and Kayli Sartori (10 points) led the way for UFV in the Brock game, which marked their second win of the weekend at the Honda Way Classic preseason tourney. They also defeated UBC-Okanagan 72-56 on Friday behind 13 points apiece from Wierks and Sartori.
The UFV men faced a pair of PacWest college squads at the Honda Way event, edging the Capilano Blues 61-57 on Friday behind 15 points from Klaus Figueredo before falling 84-79 to the Langara Falcons on Saturday despite 20 points from Kevon Parchment.
“We need to learn to finish games as a team," said Cascades coach Adam Friesen, whose squad led Langara by 10 points heading into the fourth quarter but let it slip away.
• The UFV basketball teams open the Canada West regular season at home this weekend vs. the Lethbridge Pronghorns (Friday, women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.) and the Calgary Dinos (Saturday, women 5 p.m., men 7 p.m.).