LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western women's basketball held n lead after each of the first three quarters, but Regina came all the way back in the fourth quarter and to earn a 70-69 win Friday at the Langley Events Centre.

On the strength of a strong 3-point shooting game, TWU (4-7) raced out to a 25-11 first quarter advantage, but Regina (9-2) slowly chipped away at the Spartans edge, before taking the lead midway through the fourth quarter.

With the score tied 64-64 late in the fourth quarter, the Spartans Chantelle Martin (Surrey, B.C.) nabbed a steal in the offensive zone and dropped a go-ahead layup. But shortly thereafter Regina's Katie Polischuk drained a 3-pointer to give the Cougars the lead for good. Regina knocked down a pair of free throws late to open a four-point lead before the Spartans Luca Schmidt (Langley) dropped a halfcourt shot at the buzzer.

"Trying to learn how to sustain good things has been difficult for us this year," said Spartans coach Cheryl Jean-Paul. "Sometimes we get caught up in what's not working on offence and we forget that defence is critical for you to win a game. We were in a position to get that game and that's why it hurts the most."

Laurissa Weigl (Stony Plain, Alta.) led TWU with 17 points while Jessie Brown (Langley) added 16 and Kayla Gordon (Prince George, B.C.) had 11. Tessa Ratzlaff (Aldergrove, B.C.) had a team-high eight rebounds.

"It was great that Laurissa was able to knock down some shots," Jean-Paul said. "I thought were a few times that we figured it out and created for each other and got some easy looks around the rim. But overall, we need to protect home court better and learn from this and be ready for tomorrow."

Regina was led by Polischuk, who had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Charlotte Kot added 16 points while Alyssia Kajati had 12 points.

Despite TWU going eight for 17 from 3-point range, it was largely Regina's 50-38 rebounding edge and 23-14 advantage on the offensive glass the proved to be the difference.

"We know we're undersized and we know teams are going to take advantage of that," Jean-Paul said. "We know Regina is a big team and I thought we did some good things with our press, but it takes a lot of work to play the style of play that we have to play to be successful. There were times we just took breaks at the wrong times."

The Spartans came out flying in the first quarter and opened a 25-11 lead thanks in large part to going three for four from 3-point range. TWU held Regina to just 25 per cent shooting from the field while shooting 40 per cent itself.

In the second quarter, Regina closed to the gap, but it was still the Spartans up 39-29 at the break. Brown led TWU with 11 points while Kot had a team-high seven points for the Cougars.

After the break, Regina got as close as three points after a mid-quarter lay-up from Kot, but TWU responded and pushed its advantage back up to six points, 55-49, going to the fourth frame.

The Cougars quickly closed the gap in the fourth quarter and took a 64-61 lead late in the frame TWU's Jamie Stobart (Edmonton) hit a trey to even the score, but Polischuk's 3-pointer followed by two made free throws ultimately sunk the Spartans.

The teams are back in action Saturday in the rematch at 5 p.m. at the LEC.

Game Notes: Last year, TWU lost 97-57 to the Cougars on home court…TWU has lost seven in a row against Regina, dating back to Jan. 2, 2009.

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