ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – Trinity Western fell 58-39 to the Fraser Valley Cascades on Saturday at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.
 
The Spartans (10-2) struggled to break past UFV's (9-2) strong defensive play.
 
Jayden Gill (Abbotsford, B.C.) led the Spartans in scoring, dropping a team-high of 16 points while chipping in with four rebounds. Nicole Fransson (Edmonton) also had an impressive night on the glass by grabbing 10 boards to pair with her eight points earned at the free-throw line.
 
UFV's Maddy Gobeil was the night's most significant performer. On top of her strong defensive efforts, Gobeil scored a game-high of 17 points while securing nine rebounds on the night.

AS IT HAPPENED 
The first quarter of play was a defensive battle. The Spartans struggle to orchestrate any offence as the Cascades finished in front with an 11-2 lead.

The Spartans started to generate a little bit of offence in the second quarter, but UFV's airtight defence held Nicole Fransson (Edmonton) to zero points with no field goals attempted throughout the entire first half. The half rolled to a 28-12 close in favour of the Cascades.

The third quarter was another defensive demonstration from both sides. The Cascades outscored the Spartans 15-10, ending the third quarter at a 43-22 lead for UFV.
 
Jayden Gill, Kailey Reimer (Abbotsford, B.C.), and Nicole Fransson started to will the Spartans closer to the Cascades, but the lead was far too significant for the Spartans to claw their way back into the game. TWU outscored the Cascades 17-15 in the final quarter of play.

NOTABLE 
•    Kailey Reimer has gradually asserted herself as a solid offensive option for the Spartans throughout the 2021-22 season. Her nine-point performance consisted of some significant baskets for the Spartans as they tried to even things up in the fourth quarter.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
"Tonight was a tough one - we were happy to get a split this weekend but knew that tonight's game was going to be who could grind it out the best and UFV was the better team. One highlight for us this entire weekend was the play of Jayden Gill who really elevated our play under pressure and set the tone defensive so we're excited to have gained that this weekend. A lot of learning opportunities about what it takes to win a game when the shots from the night before aren't dropping so yet another tough lesson to improve upon."

NEXT UP
TWU will host UBC Okanagan (6-6) at home next weekend. Jan. 29^th's match will be played on campus in the David E. Enarson gym.

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.

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