EDMONTON – A strong third quarter gave the University of Alberta Pandas an 83-63 victory over the visiting Trinity Western University Spartans in Canada West women's basketball action Friday night at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. The win moves the Pandas to 15-1, while the loss drops the Spartans to 4-11. 

"Every game that we've played against an elite team has taught us that although we are competing for longer stretches we still have to finish out defensive sequences in order to close the gap," commented TWU head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul. "Alberta had some outstanding guard play that we didn't contain early enough and into the second half, when we did challenge a little better, we still have to learn that good teams fight for second, third and fourth chances. Learning how to fight for 40 minutes is not easy to do, but each night someone new steps up and understands what needs to get done -we will continue to keep learning to make things happen for our program." 

Third year forward Kayla Gordon (Prince George, B.C.) with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists led the Spartans, while Jessilyn Fairbanks with 33 points led the Pandas. 

The Spartans and Pandas were evenly matched through the first quarter. TWU trailed Alberta 19-18 after a Luca Schmidt 3 pointer. But in the final five seconds the Pandas scored four points after a Megan Wickstrom 3 pointer made the score 23-18 for Alberta after 10 minutes. 

The Pandas continued to build on their lead as the quarter progressed. Alberta led by 12 points, 39-27 after 10 minutes. Over the next 10 minutes the Spartans were able to gain on the Pandas as TWU ended the opening half trailing Alberta by nine points, 46-37. 

The Pandas broke open the game in the third quarter when they outscored the Spartans 21-9 to take a 67-46 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of the game. TWU took the final quarter 17-16, but the Pandas finished the game with the 20 point victory. 

The two teams will match up again tomorrow night in Edmonton. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. MST at the University of Alberta. 

Game Notes: Alberta had a 39-27 edge in rebounding…TWU finished the night shooting 43.9 percent (25-57), while Alberta finished at 48.4 percent (31-64)…Both teams had seven steals and three blocks… 

-TW-