LANGLEY, British Columbia – Led by Jessie Brown (Langley), who had 15 points, the Trinity Western women's basketball team bounced back from a Friday night loss to Fraser Valley to win 65-51 in the Spartans home-opener Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.

The Spartans raced out to a 14-point lead, 24-10, after the first quarter, and were in control the rest of the way.

Playing staunch defence from start to finish, TWU held UFV to just 19 points through the first half and only 28 through three quarters.

With Kayla Gordon (Prince George, B.C.) tallying 13 points and six rebounds and Tessa Ratzlaff (Abbotsford, B.C.) putting up 12 points and nine boards, the Spartans put together an impressive performance to improve to 3-1 on the season.

UFV's Taylor Claggett led the Cascades (2-2) with 17 points, while Shayna Litman had 13 points and Sara Simovic added 10. Kayli Sartori, who entered the game averaging 18.7 points per game, was held to just eight points.

"We showed ourselves better today," said Spartans coach Cheryl Jean-Paul. "I thought we represented ourselves better for a 40-minute game. I thought we really lost our tempo yesterday and we know that to have success, we have to play with tempo. I challenged some of our key performers and reinforced that we can't have gaps where they collectively don't make things happen on offence. I thought they responded very well.

"I thought we had some really key plays early in the game. Everyone who came onto the floor was ready to maintain the same tempo and the same energy. They fought hard. They stood their ground. They didn't get distracted by everything else that was going on and I'm just really proud of them. And I'm not proud of them just because of the score. I'm proud of them because it was a complete team effort from start to finish. I think anytime we are able to do that, we're going to give ourselves a chance to win the game."

After holding the Cascades to 10 points in the first quarter, TWU was even better defensively in the second quarter, limiting UFV to nine points and holding a 37-19 lead at the break.

The third quarter saw the teams settle into a defensive battle as TWU outscored the Cascades 12-9.

With the Spartans up by 21 going to the fourth quarter, TWU held off the Cascades en route to a 14-point win.

Game Notes: The last time TWU beat UFV was Jan. 28, 2012, when the Spartans won 71-59 at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre…the game marked the first time UFV had played the Spartans at the LEC in a regular season game since 2013-14…Brown led TWU in scoring on both nights against the Cascades, finishing with 32 points over the weekend series.

-TW-