LANGLEY, British Columbia – Despite a huge effort put out by the Trinity Western Spartans, the home team fell to the visiting Winnipeg Wesmen 85-72 Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre.

In a game that seemed to be within the Spartans grasp during the first three quarters, the Wesmen proved to be the more resilient group in the fourth quarter, as they finished the game with a double-digit win. The win moves the Wesmen to 12-6 in the season, while the Spartans drop to 4-14.

"It's at the point in the season where you have to focus on small victories," said coach Cheryl Jean-Paul. "We've had a second semester of playing extremely difficult teams that are going to be fighting hard for playoff positioning, so every weekend has been almost like a playoff game. Our opponent is fighting for standing and is fighting for where they're going to host or not. It's forced us to have to play at a playoff level and we're realizing that we do have some things that we need to work through."

Kayla Gordon (Prince George, B.C.) led the game in both points, with 21, and rebounds, with a career-high 11. Teammate Jessie Brown (Langley) had 13 points and an assist. Jamie Stobart (Edmonton) led the Spartans in assists, with five.

Gordon's previous career-high in rebounds was eight, which she earned twice last year.

"I think the future is really bright," Jean-Paul said. "We're graduating two athletes (Laurissa Weigl, Stony Plain, Alta. and Chantelle Martin, Surrey, B.C.), that have been culture-makers for us, and I really hope that the younger ones can appreciate the time and effort that they have put in and take it that next step forward. We're really looking forward to what happens next."

Stephanie Kleysen led the Wesmen with 20 points, two rebounds and five assists. Samantha Donald had 17 total points, five rebounds and an assist.

The Spartans had a slight edge in the field, hitting 40.3 per cent of their shots, compared to the Wesmen who hit 36.5 per cent. The teams were almost dead even in rebounds with TWU grabbing 42 and Winnipeg, 40.

The two teams started out the night's scoring with back-to-back 3-pointers. TWU doubled Winnipeg's score 12-6 halfway through the first quarter. Winnipeg began to gain ground late in the quarter after sinking seven straight foul shots coming within two points at 15-17. Winnipeg made a final 3-pointer in the last second of the quarter to end at 20-19.

The Wesmen carried their momentum into the second quarter as they quickly drove the score to 25-19. The Spartans pulled back ahead by a single point after a 3-pointer by Brown landed the score at 30-29. Despite the Spartans effort, the Wesmen held the lead as the first half came to an end at 42-36. Brown went four for four in 3-pointers leading the Spartans in scoring during the first half. Kleysen led the first half with 16 points and three assists.

The Spartans stayed within striking distance of the Wesmen in the third quarter, sitting at 41-44 early on. The Spartans pulled ahead 47-46 after a huge layup by Weigl. Despite a final 3-pointer by Natalie Carkner (Port Coquitlam, B.C.), the quarter ended in the Wesmens favor at 62-58.

Within the first few minutes of the fourth quarter, Winnipeg gained the first double-digit advantage of the game at 72-60. TWU was unable to gain lost ground in the remaining minutes of the game, allowing Winnipeg to finish off the game with the largest lead of the game 85-72.

The Spartans will finish the season on the road against Victoria while Winnipeg will host Regina Feb. 13-14.

Game Notes: TWU turned the ball over 23 times to Winnipeg's 14…Winnipeg was 10 for 24 from 3-point range while TWU was 8 for 15.

-TW-