LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans lost a two-point barn-burner, 67-65, to the No. 4 ranked Fraser Valley Cascades Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The victory improves the Cascades to 8-2, while the loss drops the Spartans to 7-3.
 
Hailey Van Roekel (Langley, B.C.) had a career night finishing with 23 points and four steals, while shooting 5-9 from the three-point line. Jayden Gill (Abbotsford, B.C.) added had another solid night for TWU finishing with 16 points and three assists. While Shemaiah Abatayo (Vancouver, B.C.) chipped in 10 points, off of the bench.
 
The Cascades had a balanced attack with three players finishing with 15 points. Julia Tuchscherer (Chilliwack, B.C.) and Natalie Rather (Langley, B.C.) each finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Maddy Gobeil (Kamloops, B.C.) finished with 15 points, six steals and four assists.
 
A scramble for a loose ball in the defensive end of the floor resulted in two foul shots awarded to UFV's Nikki Cabuco (Port Moody, B.C.). Cabuco rattled home both shots with four seconds remaining. TWU's Nicole Fransson put up a contested shot under the basket as the buzzer went, but it failed to find the bottom of the net as the top ten Cascades earned the weekend split.

The game was close throughout with the two teams tied at 35-35 at the end of the first half. And UFV leading 51-49 at the end of the third quarter.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
"Today felt like a playoff game. There was a lot riding on it both in terms of pride and just knowing the value of every single win. And to play a ranked team and come away with a split at home is a good way to finish the semester. Definetly a test in resilience and learning how to play in big moments."
 
"It was one of those games where the last best shot is going to win the game. And they were the team that got it. I think to hold them to 67 in a tough physical game was a good thing. I think we did enough defensively to win the game, but I just think that offensively we had some mental mistakes, and turnovers that really hurt us in the end."
 
"Overall, this game just goes to show that we are moving in the right direction. Really excited to finish the semester 7-3.Overall a great team effort through the entire semester and I'm looking forward to having a break and getting some rest and some reflection time to figure out who we need to be second semester and looking forward to putting all these pieces together."
 
NOTABLE
• The Spartans are 12-19 lifetime against the Cascades.
• Last night TWU defeated UFV 68-55.
• TWU shot 39.6 percent (21/53) from the field, 34.8 percent (8/23) from the three point line, and 75 percent (15/20) from the foul line, while UFV shot 49.1 percent (26/53), 42.9 percent (6/14) and 69.2 percent (9/13) respectively.
• The Spartans had a 33-30 edge in rebounds, while the Cascades had a 14-13 edge in steals.
• TWU had 16 points in the paint, while UFV had 34 points in the pain.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans are now off for the Christmas break. TWU will tip-off the second semester when they head to Edmonton to take on the MacEwan Griffins on January 6-7. Game times are set for 6 p.m. on both nights and can be seen live on CanadaWest.TV.
 
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 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.
 
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