LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western defeated Victoria 68-62 at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday.

The Spartans (4-0) and the Vikes (2-4) squared off for their third bout of the 2021-22 season thus far. With TWU and UVIC being notorious for close matches, their third, and final bout of the regular season ended in similar fashion.

Third-year Spartan Jolene Vlieg (Leduc, Alta.) was on a different level in Saturday's victory, scoring 23 points while grabbing five rebounds. Vlieg did all of this efficiently, shooting 8-16 from the field with 5-8 coming from 3-point range.

For UVIC, Kalli McMillan scored a team-high 19 points. McMillan was closely followed by Tana Pankratz who scored 14 of her own. McMillan and Pankratz also tied for the game-high in steals as both had three.

AS IT HAPPENED 
The first quarter started with both the Spartans and the Vikes holding nothing back. The premiere quarter was defined by defensive efforts and size as Jolene Vlieg (Leduc, Alta.) and Nicole Fransson (Edmonton) playing a massive role in securing the paint. Victoria's backcourt duo of Calli McMillan and Tana Pankratz sought to make things difficult for the Spartans early on, but Pankratz was locked into foul trouble early into the first quarter.

The second quarter shifted to a fast-paced shootout which was accelerated by Vlieg. The third-year forward scored 11 points in the quarter, widening TWU's lead over the Vikes to 31-25 at the end of the first half. Victoria's efforts were strong down the stretch, especially from Pankratz, who was a nightmare at the top of UVIC's 2-3 zone.

The second half of the game opened with Victoria dictating play after altering their defensive scheme. The game was soon brought into balance as the Vikes took their first lead of the game in the third quarter.
 
The fourth quarter saw the Spartans surge late, with Fransson leading the way for the Spartans when they were able to make adjustments according to UVIC's well-worked defensive strategies.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
"It is so hard to beat a team three times in a row and a lot of our other matchups are not set up this way. To have three really close games and to come on top for all of them says a lot about our team's resilience right now. We do need to talk about how to keep our leads, but until that time we're going to keep pushing back.
 
"It feels like playoff basketball. We couldn't ask for a better way to develop our decision making."

UP NEXT 
The 4-0 Spartans will be heading to Kamloops to take on the TRU Wolfpack on Nov. 26^th and 27^th.

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 29 Canada West team championships.

-TW-