VICTORIA, British Columbia – In their final game of the 2023 preseason the Trinity Western Spartans lost by four points, 71-67, to the Victoria Vikes Saturday afternoon at the CARSA Performance Gym in Victoria, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans preseason record to 3-3, while the win moves the Vikes to 3-4.

Third-year guard Shemaiah Abatayo (Vancouver, B.C.)  with 16 points, and four rebounds, and fourth-year guard Jayden Gill (Abbotsford, B.C.) with 15 points, and three assists led the Spartans. Abigail Becker with 20 points, and seven rebounds, and Makena Anderson with 16 points, and eight rebounds led the Vikes.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
" Today's game was a good end to our preseason as we'll see this team again in the second semester and it's a good way to assess where we stand going into regular season. Every game has taught us a few more lessons about what it takes to compete in our conference and our young ones are growing up fast. We look forward to putting all these lessons to the test as the regular season starts next weekend.

NOTABLE

• The Spartans finished the afternoon shooting 43.5 percent (27-62) from the field, 23.8 percent (5-21) from the three-point line, and 80 percent (8-10) from the foul line, while the Vikes shot 47.4 percent (27-57), 27.3 percent (3-11), and 66.7 percent (14-21) respectively.
• Victoria had a 37-36 edge in rebounds, while both teams had nine steals.
• Last week the Spartans went 3-0 at the 2nd Annual Athlete Empowered Classic - York University. TWU defeated Toronto 73-52, York 67-61, and Concordia 56-55.
• The Spartans are currently 19-45 lifetime against the Vikes.

UP NEXT
Next week the Spartans have their conference openers as they head to Kamloops, B.C. to play the Thompson Rivers WolfPack. Both games are at 5:30 p.m. (PT) 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 14 U SPORTS team championships and 34 Canada West team championships.
 
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