VANCOUVER – The University of Saskatchewan women's basketball team bounced back after an opening night loss to take down the UBC Thunderbirds by a score of 70-60, on Saturday, Oct. 27 at War Memorial Gym.

Libby Epoch led the way for the Huskies as she poured in 14 points, including a dagger three-pointer in the fourth quarter to seal the victory for the road side. Second-year guard Katriana Philipenko was electric off the bench, as she contributed a career high 13 points, while Summer Masikewich collected a game-high 13 boards.

"I was happy with the contribution from the bench for sure," said Huskies head coach Lisa Thomaidis. "That was a big difference from last night and it's what we needed. We were lacking a little bit of extra firepower so I was glad some people stepped up. It's so early, a lot of teams are going to improve so much between now and the end of the season. UBC is a strong team and we didn't come out ready to play yesterday so it was a good chance for us to rebound and come back with a win tonight.
 
Meanwhile for the Thunderbirds, Maddison Penn had a team-high 15 points with three rebounds and two steals. Keylyn Filewich added 14 points and Gabriella Laguerta went 4-for-5 from three-point range with 14 points off the bench.

The matchup concluded the opening weekend of the 2018-19 Canada West Campaign, with both the Huskies and Thunderbirds slotting in with matching 1-1 records following the two-game series.

Madison Legault opened the scoring for the UBC before Philipenko came off the bench for five quick points to put the Saskatchewan up 9-2. Jessica Hanson and Filewich executed a clean pick-and-roll for UBC's second basket of the game, and Laguerta connected from beyond the arc to make it 17-12 Saskatchewan after the first quarter.

Epoch hit back-to-back threes to extend the Huskies lead to double digits in the second quarter as the visitors held the run of play. Penn re-entered the game to score the 'Birds' next seven points to close out the half down 36-25. UBC turned it on in transition midway through the third as Saskatchewan held a 49-39 lead, but the Huskies continued to drain buckets to go ahead 59-44 heading all the way to the win.

The Huskies will stay at home next weekend as they play host to the Fraser Valley Cascades at the PAC on Friday, Nov. 2, and Saturday, Nov. 3. Next up for the Thunderbirds is a pair of Legends Cup tests in a home-and-home series with the Victoria Vikes. UBC hosts Victoria at War Memorial Gym Thursday night before a visit to the Island Saturday.