LANGLEY, B.C. – The Spartans women's basketball team fell 70-62 against the UNBC Timberwolves in its home-opener Friday at the Langley Events Centre. 
 
TWU was searching for its first win of the season and falls to 0-3 with the loss. The Timberwolves record improves to 1-2. 
 
Nicole Fransson (Edmonton) led TWU's offence with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Kianna Wiens (Regina, Sask.) added 18 points and Jolene Vlieg (Leduc, Alta.) adding a game-high seven assists. 
 
Timberwolves forward Madison Landry's 20 points led UNBC's offence. 
 
Friday's match was the first game between the two teams since UNBC's 80-78 win in last season's Canada West play-in game at the Langley Events Centre. 
 
After the Spartans opened the game with leads of 4-0 and 6-2, UNBC would go on a 11-5 run in the first quarter to hold a 13-11 lead after the first. 
 
TWU had a strong start into the second quarter, which saw them open on a 9-0 run. The Spartans led for the majority of the quarter, including a 20-13 lead at one point, but a last second layup from Emma vanBruinessen gave the Timberwolves a 33-32 lead at the half. 
 
Fransson led TWU with 12 points and five rebounds in the first half, while Madison Landry's 12 points led UNBC. 
 
The second half saw much of the same, with UNBC and TWU trading points before the Timberwolves added five points to their lead, up 57-51 heading into the fourth quarter. 
 
The Timberwolves opened the fourth quarter on a hot stretch, going on a 10-2 run and never looking back. Despite TWU closing the gap to within nine points in the final two minutes, UNBC prevailed 70-62 on the road. 
 
UNBC held a 49-36 advantage in rebounds and shot 49.2% (30/61) from the field, while the Spartans had a 7-5 advantage in steals while shooting 30.7% (23-75). 
 
The loss drops the Spartans to 0-3 on the season, while UNBC moves to 1-2 with the victory. 
 
QUOTABLE
Cheryl Jean-Paul – TWU Head Coach

"Other than a six-minute stretch where we completely lost our cool, I thought we did some really good things today. Every weekend, we've been talking about what we can learn from some very experienced and savvy basketball players. Sometimes it's not fair for a first-year kid, who's never played, to go up against a fourth or fifth-year all-star and expect her to figure it out right away. We're trying to make sure that we stay focused on our process. Are we going to figure out everything right away? No. But there is so much promise and so much potential in this team. Our goal is to keep getting better every game. There were things that we struggled with last weekend that we figured out today and there were things that happened today that we need to figure out for tomorrow. 
 
"For some of the youthfulness that we have, I thought there was some really good energy and intensity, especially defensively. The stand that they made in the last four minutes to climb back into the game was really exciting to see."
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans came home after dropping their opening games of the season to the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack (70-67, 60-50). 
• The Spartans dropped all three of their games against the Timberwolves last season, two in the regular season and one in the playoffs.  
• TWU's last two wins against UNBC came at home in the 2017-18 season (Nov. 3-4, 2017). 

 
NEXT UP
The Spartans and Timberwolves will once again matchup Saturday night (5 p.m.) at the Langley Events Centre. 

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.
 
-TW-