KAMLOOPS, British Columbia – Led by fourth-year guard Hailey Van Roekel (Langley, B.C.) with 20 points and eight rebounds the Trinity Western Spartans defeated the Thompson Rivers WolfPack 66-59 to open conference play Friday night at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops, B.C.

TWU trailed 34-32 at the end of the first half, and 49-47 after three quarters.

In addition to Van Roekel the Spartans were led by fourth-year guard Jayden Gill (Abbotsford, B.C.) with 13 points and three assists, fourth-year guard Kailey Reimer (Abbotsford, B.C.) with six points, eight rebounds, and five steals, and third-year forward Gracie Corneau (Abbotsford, B.C.) with eight points, and five rebounds. Danijela Kovacevic with 14 points and four rebounds, and Kelsey Cruz with nine points, and five rebounds led the WolfPack.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
" We found a way to get it done tonight and had some great contributions from a number of people, whether it was scoring or getting timely rebounds. Hailey set the tone for us with some tough takes and some key boards.

"We let TRU dictate most of the game tonight and they played tough. We were able to find our tempo late in the game and showed signs of what we could look like this season if we stick to our identity and style of play. Learning how to win usually comes from experiences like this so we hope it's the catalyst we needed to remind ourselves of how we need to play."
NOTABLE

• TWU finished the night shooting 32.9 percent (24-73) from the field, 32 percent (8-25) from the three point line, and 55.6 percent (10-18) from the foul line. TRU shot 39.4 percent (26-66), 10 percent (2-20) and 50 percent (5-10) respectively.
• The Spartans dominated the boards, outrebounding the WolfPack 58-36.
• In the Canada West preseason coaches' poll the Spartans are ranked No. 10, while the WolfPack are ranked No. 15.
• TWU finished the preseason at 3-3, while TRU finished at 2-3
• The Spartans are 22-13 lifetime against the WolfPack.
• In their last conference meeting TWU defeated TRU 79-45 on January 15, 2022.
• The last time the Spartans lost to the WolfPack was November 2, 2019, 60-50, in Kamloops, B.C.

UP NEXT
The Spartans will finish the weekend series with the WolfPack tomorrow evening at 5:30 p.m. (PT) at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops, B.C. The game 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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