On Saturday, Feb. 15 the UFV Cascades Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams (MBB, WBB) celebrated their seniors while closing out the regular season against their Langley rivals, the Trinity Western University (TWU) Spartans.
With their Quarter-Finals (QF) spot already secured, WBB earned a 54-40 win, while MBB fell short, losing 86-77 to the Spartans in a nail-biter that went down to the wire.
WBB overcomes difficult shooting night
The Cascades sprung out of the gate early with senior Maddy Gobeil owning the court as her usual self, finishing with 16 Points (PTS), one shy of Spartan Sydney Bradshaw for the game-high in scoring.
Third-year guard Bernie Leda was among the most efficient of the Cascades shooters, going 3-5 from both the field, and Three Point (3PT) range off the bench. Senior Nikki Cabuco had an off shooting night, managing only three Field Goals (FG) on 11 attempts.
UFV enjoyed a 13 point lead by half-time, proving to be too steep a mountain for the Spartans to close the gap in the second half.
Julia Tuchscherer led the defence as a key player in the fourth quarter with nine Defensive Rebounds (DREB), 3 Blocks (BLK) and 2 Assists (A) through the game, racking up a total of 7 PTS and 31 minutes of play time.
The Cascade caught up with Gobeil, a Kamloops native and reigning UFV women’s athlete of the year, to talk about her last regular season home game.
“It’s been a very long journey … three of us graduates have been here for six years and Google [Sidhu] for five. It’s super special to be able to go through [my] whole university career with such a big group of people that are truly some of my best friends.”
The victory locks in UFV as the fourth seed in Canada West.
Hernandez and Lopez fill stat sheet
The Cascades struggled with their defensive assignments in the first quarter on Saturday, as the Spartans got the drop on UFV with a 28-19 opening frame. The gap was closed to eight points heading into the second half after an epic dunk by Clay Kurtz before the buzzer.
UFV gained traction in the third quarter, as the international duo of Ismael Hernandez and Dario Lopez keyed a Cascades comeback, picking up points left and right that continued into the fourth quarter. Lopez was the highest scoring player of the game notching 27 points, and a major inside presence with 11 REB to go along with 3 Steals (STL) and 4 A. Hernandez had perhaps his best game of the season, scoring 25 PTS on 7-11 shooting from the field, and 5-8 from downtown.
The Spartans and Cascades traded baskets in the fourth quarter as the lead was shrunk to one for the Spartans. A late eight point run propelled TWU over the finish line, converting on two late free throws that put them up by 11 points in the final seconds.
Team captain Takeshi Croke capped off an impressive senior season with a 10 A performance, a new program record. Croke averaged 5.4 A this season, building a cumulative sum of 108 total assists on the year — the second highest single season tally in Cascades MBB history.
Croke, a Victoria B.C. native, joined the Cascades in 2023-24.
“It’s been a great two years here with UFV … I think I made a great decision [in] coming. The past two years I’ve made a ton of friends [and] really good relationships with all the boys,” he said.
Senior celebrations
Culture carriers Gobeil, Cabuco, Sidhu, and Deanna Tuchscherer will all be graduating from UFV at the conclusion of this year’s play-offs, making this the team’s final attempt to win a national title as a core. Croke, Jake Willemsen, and Chris Jackson — who had a small celebration earlier in the season — are set to graduate as well.
Sidhu, a hometown Abbotsford product and W.J. Mouat Secondary grad, has had the time of her life wearing the green and white.
“I’m super grateful for the past five years that I’ve been a Cascade,” said Sidhu. “It’s been a dream of mine to play at this school since I was younger, I was always watching the Cascades.”
The Calgary Dinos played the Cascades on Feb. 22 in the WBB QF at the UFV Athletic Centre — which the home team won 62-59 advancing to the final four.
Meanwhile, UFV took on the Lethbridge Pronghorns in Victoria during the MBB play in round on Feb. 21 where they won 91-71, advancing to the QF. They faced off against the University of Victoria Vikes on Feb. 22, ultimately losing 106-84 and putting an end to their season.
