CALGARY – In a close-fought battle, the Trinity Western Spartans women's basketball team fell 69-61 on Friday night at the Jack Simpson Gym.

The Dinos maintained their perfect record to open the season and improved to 5-0, while the Spartans fell to 1-4.
 
Reigning Canada West rookie of the year Nicole Fransson (Edmonton) and third-year guard Kianna Wiens (Regina, Sask.) led the Spartans with 16 points each, with Fransson hauling down a career-high 17 rebounds, 10 of which were offensive.

Both teams saw a slow start in the first quarter, with the Dinos coming out on top 14-9 after an 8-3 run in the last half. Both teams were matched for 10 rebounds, but the Dinos defence had the edge with six steals and nine forced turnovers. 
 
In the second quarter, the Spartans closed the gap with 18 rebounds, 10 of which were offensive. A 7-2 run in the last two minutes let the Spartans lead in points (17-15), but the Dinos still ended the first half on top with 29-26.

The Dinos widened the margin in the third quarter with an impressive 61.1 field goal percentage and a 12-3 run late in the quarter. The Spartans were outshot 16-4 in the paint.
 
The Spartans battled closely in the fourth quarter, managing to outscore the Dinos 19-16 in total points, thanks to 6 points each from Fransson and Wiens. Despite the edge in points, three-pointers from Erin McIntosh and Sascha Lichtenwald sealed the deal for the Dinos.

For Calgary, Sascha Lichtenwald led with 17 points, while Erin McIntosh, Liene Stalidzane, and Michaela Nieuwenhuizen scooped up 12 points each.

QUOTABLE
Cheryl Jean-Paul – TWU Head Coach
 
"What a great battle tonight! I am really excited about the big stretches of composure we showed today against a really tough team. Our first half defensively was solid and demonstrated our buy-in into what needs to be done to be competitive in this league. Our struggle continues to be finding multiple sources of offense and that is only going to come with more experience, so we need to be patient, especially against their pressure. 
 
"We knew we were coming into a game against a highly ranked team with a large group of older athletes, so we knew that we were going to learn a lot from them and I'm excited to see what we bring into tomorrow's game."
 
NOTABLE

• TWU was coming off a home opening weekend two weeks ago (Nov. 8-9), where the Spartans picked up a 63-52 win over UNBC – their first of the season.
• Corinna Reimer holds the TWU women's basketball record for rebounds in a single game, getting 19 on the road in Manitoba on February 12, 2011.
• Spartans forward Fransson was coming off a career-high 26 point performance in her previous match against UNBC (Nov. 9).

 
NEXT UP
The Spartans once again take on Calgary Saturday (Nov. 23) at the Jack Simpson Gymnasium.  

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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