A mechanical malfunction made the bus ride home way too long.
For the UNBC Northern Timberwolves basketball teams, the trip would have been even worse if they had lost any of their weekend games against the Quest University Kermodes. But, each UNBC club picked up a pair of victories.
Against the Squamish-based Kermodes, the male Timberwolves won 82-74 on Saturday night and 86-57 on Friday. The UNBC women's team, meanwhile, prevailed 72-58 on Saturday and 63-57 on Friday.
After the Saturday triumphs, the teams boarded their charter bus for the ride north. Not long after, problems with the transmission began.
"For whatever reason, the transmission would lock into a gear and just kind of sit there so we were in first gear, going about 30 kilometres an hour," said men's head coach Todd Jordan, adding that the bus's top speed was about 80km/h. "We ended up stopping in Clinton and waiting for a couple hours before we had a bus from Prince George pick us up and bring us back. It was a bit of an adventure, for sure."
Jordan estimated the trip time at about 18 hours. The teams arrived home at about 3 p.m. Sunday.
As for the basketball, the UNBC men struggled a bit with their shooting on Saturday but still found enough nylon to beat the Kermodes. All-Canadian guard Inderbir Gill led the T-wolves with 18 points, while Sebastien-Kevin Louis hit for 16 points and Francis Rowe had 13.
"Quest played us much tougher [than on Friday]," Jordan said. "The first night they turned the ball over a lot -- we were able to force a lot of turnovers with our pressure. [Saturday] night, they did a much better job of taking care of the basketball so we weren't able to get the same run-outs and transition buckets. We were up 17 or 18 at one point and then they made a little run at us but it was more or less in control for the majority of the second half."
The third-place Timberwolves pushed their record in the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association to 7-2. The Kermodes, ninth in the 10-team league, dropped to 1-8.
In Saturday's women's game, the T-wolves moved the ball quickly for most of the first half and were up by 15 points at the break. In the second half, the pace of the game slowed down but they were able to maintain their lead. Offensively, fourth-year forward Jennifer Clyne and fifth-year guard Christine Kennedy scored 13 points each. Second-year guard Jennifer Bruce chipped in with 11 points and fifth-year post Sarah Moxley also had a strong outing. She finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
"Mox played really well," said UNBC interim head coach Rachel Hulme. "She had some nice moves on the inside and was grabbing a lot of rebounds. We got [Quest forward] Ruth Thanert, their best player from the night before, into foul trouble really early so we were able to kind of pound around in there with our post players."
UNBC, fourth in the league, is now 6-3 this season. Seventh-place Quest fell to 4-5.
The T-wolves teams will be in for home-court tests this Friday and Saturday. They are hosting the Capilano University Blues of North Vancouver, who are both 9-0. Start times, at the Northern Sport Centre, are 6 p.m. for the women and 8 p.m. for the men.
