EDMONTON – Led by Jayden Gill (Abbotsford, B.C.) and Hailey Van Roekel (Langley, B.C.) with 17 points each the Trinity Western Spartans earned a convincing 79-54 victory over the MacEwan Griffins at the David Atkinson Gymnasium. The win improves the Spartans to 8-3, while the loss drops the Griffins to 2-9.
 
Van Roekel also had eight rebounds, while teammate Nicole Fransson (Edmonton) added 16 points, four assists, and four rebounds to the TWU cause. Noelle Kilbreath with 12 points and Mackenzie Farmer with 10 points and eight rebounds led the Griffins.
 
The Spartans jumped out to an early 10-2 lead and never looked back. TWU led 18-12 after the first quarter and 42-28 at the half. The Griffins cut the lead slightly after the third quarter trailing, 60-48 before the Spartans blew the game open with a 19-6 fourth quarter to earn the 25-point victory.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
"Tonight's game was a great start to the semester. We spent a lot of time in the last few weeks revisiting the best parts of our game, knowing that we need everyone to be a part of how we establish our style and I thought everyone came ready to play. We had a few key pushes that started with defensive stops and we're excited to keep building on this type of team win."
 
NOTABLE
• The Spartans are 6-1 lifetime against the Griffins.
• TWU shot 47.1 percent (32/68) from the field, 18.8 percent (3/16) from the three-point line, and 75 percent (12/16) from the foul line, while MacEwan shot 37.5 percent (21/56), 7.1 percent (1/14) and 84.6 percent (11/13) respectively.
• The Spartans had a 40-31 edge in rebounds, and a 9-4 edge in steals.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Griffins will match up again Saturday night in Edmonton. 
 
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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