COSTA MESA, California – The Trinity Western Spartans dropped an 80-54 decision to the Vanguard University Lions to open their three game tour of California Tuesday evening in Costa Mesa, Calf.
"Tonight's game was a good first challenge in getting back into basketball after a month of exams and Christmas break – we need to get the rust off since our last games in November and get our focus back to where we want to be as a team. Our objective has been to work through areas of weakness that will hurt us in our regular season games against tough opponents that we don't know, have those exposed and work through them to prepare us for a competitive second semester," commented TWU head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul. "Too many turnovers, slow defensive rotations, and sending our opponent to the free throw line are all areas that we have to get better at each game that we play down here – we have to improve as a defensive unit without relying on offense to spark our defensive intensity."
"Vanguard shot the ball really well early, we had a great response to end the first quarter and brought the game within reach, but then some costly defensive sequences and turnovers created a gap that we couldn't overcome. I'm looking forward to the response tomorrow – that statement is more important than tonight's game since we have to learn from some of the decisions that are preventing us from taking leads or closing gaps when it counts."
Second year guard Jessie Brown (Langley, B.C.) with 18 points, third year forward Kayla Gordon (Prince George, B.C.) with 11 points, second year forward Tessa Ratzlaff (Abbotsford, B.C.) with eight points, and fourth year guard Natalie Carkner (Coquitlam, B.C.) with six points and a team high six rebounds led the Spartans in the loss.
The Lions featured balanced scoring as four players reached double figures – senior Melissa Norman (Elk Grove, Calf.) and junior Maya Kennedy (Huntington Beach, Calf.) each had a team high 15 points.
The Spartans finished the game shooting 40.4 percent, 21-52, from the field, 40 percent, 6-15, from the three-point line, and 50 percent, 6-12, from the foul line, while the Lions shot 46.4 percent, 26-56, 38.9 percent, 7-18, and 72.4 percent, 21-29, respectively.
In the first quarter, Vanguard jumped out to a 22-9 advantage, but by the end of the first 10 minutes of play, the Spartans had trimmed it to a four point deficit, 25-21.
In the second quarter the Vanguard outscored Trinity Western 17-7 to take a 14 point, 42-28, lead into the half-time break.
The third quarter was the most even on the night, but TWU was unable to gain ground on VU as the Lions extended their lead by three points, to take a 58-41 lead into the final frame.
The final quarter saw the home team close out the win by outscoring the Spartans 22-13 to make the final 80-54 for the Lions.
The Spartans will continue competition tomorrow evening when they match up with La Sierra at 5 p.m. in Riverside, Calf. The game will be streamed live from La Sierra.
TWU opens up Canada West conference action on January 9-10 when they travel to Saskatchewan to take on the University of Regina Cougars.
Game Notes: For the game Vanguard outscored TWU 33-8 in bench points and scored 10 more points in the paint… Off turnovers, the Lions held a 29-8 advantage…
-TW-
