ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans dropped their opening game of the 2019-20 preseason 67-63 to the visiting Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks Saturday afternoon at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C.

The Spartans opened the game well and led 17-12 at the end of the first quarter. The two teams matched each other in the second quarter as TWU led WLU 33-28 at the end of the first half.

Wilfrid Laurier had a strong third quarter outscoring Trinity Western 17-8 to take a 45-41 lead heading into the final 10 minutes. The Golden Hawks extended their lead to 12 points, 56-44, with six minutes remaining. The Spartans finished the game with a strong 19-11 run, but were unable to catch the Golden Hawks as they fell 67-63.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
"We saw some great things today, and there are great things to come. And that is how we are seeing this preseason, as a work in progress."

"Being our first game I wasn't sure what to expect, because we have had so many changes from last year and there are so many pieces that are different. But we came out unafraid in the first quarter and it was really great to see everyone being a scoring threat and defensively making something happen in the full court."

"Where we need to develop and continue to grow is that once the game starts slowing down a little bit we need to have the ability to execute in the half court."

"But overall I'm happy with our first game and really excited that we have a lot of really good games coming up in our preseason and the goal is to make sure that we are ready for the first weekend of November."

NOTABLE
• The Golden Hawks lost to the UBC Thunderbirds 80-61 Friday night in Vancouver.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will continue their preseason next week when they will host the UBC Okanagan Heat on October 11 and October 12.

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men's hockey and as an independent team in men's rugby. The men's and women's hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.
 
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