Last Friday, the Columbia Bible College basketball teams combined for a feat which they hadn’t accomplished in at least four years – sweeping a pair of home games on the same night.
The Bearcats women got things started with a 59-50 victory over the Kwantlen Eagles, and the men followed with a 67-59 win over their Kwantlen counterparts.
It was a particularly noteworthy night for the CBC women, who had just one win over the past six seasons in the PacWest conference, that one coming in 2009.
"When I came in, there was a huge feeling of defeat over the program," said Tamara Larson, who took the head coaching reins for the 'Cats women in 2012.
"This game, it was just huge . . . for the program itself. I can't say enough about how hard the players worked."
Deanna Esau (17 points), Sarah Rozendal (14 points) and Mandy Van Muyen (a team-high four assists) were among the standouts for the Bearcats women, who improved to 1-5 on the season.
In the men's game, CBC encountered some late adversity. Nursing a 59-55 lead with 1:12 remaining, Marcio Juk drove into the lane and found Addison King open for a three-pointer. But the referees whistled Juk for a charging foul, simultaneously negating the basket and sidelining the conference's leading scorer with his fifth foul.
The Bearcats battled to the finish line, though, hitting their free throws to salt the game away. Juk (19 points, nine rebounds, six assists) and Mack Thompson (16 points) were the top scorers as CBC boosted its record to 2-4.
"I think the guys were really excited to be at home," head coach Matt Guynup said, alluding to the fact that Friday's games were CBC's only basketball home games of the semester.
"We let the anticipation build, and then we came home and the guys worked like dogs. That's the best defence we've played all year."
VOLLEYBALL TEAMS DOMINATE AVALANCHE
Abbotsford's PacWest volleyball programs offered the College of the Rockies Avalanche an inhospitable welcome during an extended visit last week.
The Cranbrook-based Avalanche played four consecutive nights locally in order to make the most of their long road trip, but the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades and the Bearcats combined to go 7-1 against them.
The defending national champion UFV women, ranked No. 1 in the country, won in three sets on both Thursday and Friday to improve to 12-0, while the Cascades men (5-7) split their two games, winning in four sets on Thursday and falling in four on Friday.
On Saturday and Sunday, the CBC women (3-9) swept their Avalanche counterparts to tighten their grip on a playoff spot, dropping just one set along the way. The Bearcats men, ranked No. 11 in the nation, also won both days – including a five-setter on Sunday – to improve to 7-5.