It was all about the love for the University College of the Fraser Valley women's basketball team on Valentine's Day as they defeated the UC Cariboo Sun Demons by a score of 74-53. Going into the game UCC was in sixth place in the BCCAA standings compared to UCFV in first place. Despite the disparity in records, the first half of the game was a tight contest with both teams shooting well and arriving at half-time with the Cascades leading 36-29.

"They came out with a lot of energy and really challenged us in the first half," said Cascades Coach Al Tuscherer. "We needed that." The second half opened with the Cascades going on an 18-3 run and never looking back. "That was our potential," said Tuscherer. "We need to play that way more often."

Player of the game honors went to Lauren Alonzo who gathered 17 points, hitting her first five shots. "Lauren was really dominant from the beginning and if she wasn't, the game might have turned out differently," commented Tuscherer. Jamie Born led Cascade scoring with 24 points, 17 in the decisive second half. The win lifted the Cascades, who are ranked #1 nationally, to a 13-0 league record this year. Tosha Hassel and Melissa Mearon each had 13 points for Cariboo.

The Lovefest continued on Saturday with the women coming away with a hard-fought 77-59 victory. It may seem unlikely that an 18-point victory was hard-fought but it was. Following the plan of UCC the previous night, the UNBC Timberwolves came out strong with a ton of energy, led by 12 first-half points from guard Kristine Hamilton, and forced the Cascades into a number of uncharacteristic turnovers. Tuscherer went to his bench early and often and seemed to find a spark in the defensive efforts of fourth-year veteran Natilee Brown. By halftime the Cascades appeared to have woken up and trailed only by a score of 25-27. Starting the second half on 6-0 run, the Cascades never looked back with the lead swelling to over 20 points before arriving at the final 18-point decision. Player of the Game honors went to Jamie Born from UCFV, who scored 23 of her 26 points in the second half, and UNBC's Hamilton, who scored 24 points before fouling out. UCFV assistant Coach Steve Hussey commented that it was a "really strong weekend and we were pleased with everyone's effort."

When asked about being such a convincing number one in the standings, Hussey said, "It feels really good but we try to keep everything in perspective. We try to focus on ourselves and on trying to improve ourselves, and not pay too much attention to that stuff."

While the women were all smiles on Valentine's Day, you might say that the UCFV men's team was slightly heartbroken. Marked by ragged and inconsistent play recently, the Cascades played well for most of the game. Unfortunately for them, so did Kamloops' UCC. In the end, it came down to free throws and UCC, almost literally, never missed. Led by Skye Buck with 28 points, including 17-17 from the free throw line, the Sun Demons shot and rebounded well earned an 88-82 victory.

Peter Wauthy and Mark Turner had their usual strong games with 21 and 14 points respectively but with UCC going 40-43 from the free throw line and the referees more than happy to blow their whistles, it just wasn't UCFV's night. "We played well but we just had a couple of bad breaks, " commented Coach Pat Lee.

Despite the heartbreaking loss, the Cascades put forth another strong effort the following night against the UNBC Timberwolves and this time were able to come away with the win.. The low numbers in the 67-57 final score accurately show the amount of tough defence played by both teams, but the double-digit difference makes it seem like an easier win than it actually was.

UCFV had to scrape and scratch for every point in this contest and the lead scratcher was again Peter Wauthy, who contributed his usual 18 points and 11 rebounds.

"Pete just plays hard all the time," said Lee. On this night, Wauthy's effort was matched by many other Cascades. "We've really been concentrating on team defence," said Lee. "We still have some things to work on but we are getting better." UNBC was led by Phil Nadraszky with 15 points while his brother Alex followed with 14. Asked to put the game in a nutshell, Lee commented, "It wasn't pretty but it worked."

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