LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans used dominating defence down the stretch to rally from an eight-point deficit with five minutes to go to defeat the Manitoba Bisons 66-63 in Canada West women's basketball Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The win keeps the Spartans unbeaten at 8-0, while the loss drops the Bisons to 2-8. The 8-0 start is only the second time in TWU history that they have started the season unbeaten at 8-0.

Trinity Western trailed 17-13 after the first quarter, 31-30 at the half, and 51-49 after three quarters.

Fourth-year guard Jayden Gill (Abbotsford, B.C.) with 21 points, four steals, and three blocks, fourth-year guard Hailey Van Roekel (Langley, B.C.) with 12 points, and seven rebounds, and third-year guard Shemaiah Abatayo (Vancouver, B.C.) with 11 points, and eight assists led the Spartans. Manitoba's Lauren Bartlett was the standout player for the Bisons finishing the night with 23 points, five rebounds, and two steals.

AS IT HAPPENED
The two teams were even through the first five minutes at 8-8, but the second five minutes belong to the Bisons as Manitoba took a 17-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.  Manitoba continued to play well through the first five minutes of the second quarter as they extended their lead to 11 points, 27-16. Then in what would prove to be a trend for the Spartans, TWU outscored the Bisons 14-4 to go into the half trailing by one point, 31-30.

The start of the second half saw the Bisons extend their lead to five points, 43-38. But TWU again cut the lead to a single possession, 51-49, to start the fourth quarter. Again the Bisons were the better team to start the quarter as they outscored the Spartans 10-4 to take an eight-point lead, 61-53, going into the final five minutes of the game. The final five minutes the TWU defence stood out as they only allowed the Bisons two points down the stretch, which saw the Spartans outscore the Bisons 13-2 to earn the three-point win. TWU's Jayden Gill hit two free throws with seven seconds remaining to give TWU the lead, 64-63. The Abatayo hit two more free throws with one second remaining to make the final 66-63 for the Spartans.
QUOTABLE

TWU Head Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
"There were somethings that really worked for us offensively last night that they took away from us today. And kudos to the Bisons for having a really great game plan. We had to wait for too long in each quarter for us to find our rhythm and to find the right group at the right time that could make things happen, especially offensively."
 
"We made some adjustments and just settled into the game. This is what a lot of our games in second semester are going to be like. Where you might have to play from behind you might learn how to get three consecutive stops in a row. And I think that they really challenged that part of our game today."
 
"It was exciting to see different people spike at different times when we needed them too. It was hard finding those people consistently and knowing what the game plan was defensively. But as a whole to get in any gym and win two games is tough in our conference, and we have done that now four times. Just really proud of this group for the resilience that they have shown. They keep finding ways to win. And to know that you can comeback from behind and win a game is such a great lesson for this group to learn. You don't want to be in the situation a lot, but now that we know that we can. I think it was a collective group. We had some great plays here and there. We have a lot of things to learn, but it's always nice to learn with wins."
 
NOTABLE

• TWU finished the night shooting 32.8 percent (19-58) from the field, 38.1 percent (8/21) from the three point line, and 62.4 percent (20/32) from the foul line. While Manitoba finished shooting 38.4 percent (28/73), 12 percent (3/25) and 100 percent (4/4) respectively.
• The Spartans finished the night with a 48-39 edge in rebounds, both teams had five blocked shots.
• The Spartans defeated the Bisons 80-64 Friday night.
• The Spartans are 16-15 lifetime against the Bisons.
• Fourth-year guard Jayden Gill is the Spartans Athlete of the Week after averaging 25.5 points, three steals, and 5.5 assists per game in Brandon.
• The last time the Spartans lost to the Bisons was 59-56 on November 12, 2011.
• The Bisons are TWU head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul's alma-mater.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans are now off for exams. TWU will be back on the court December 30 when they will host the Thompson Rivers WolfPack in a non-conference game. TWU's next conference game is January 5-6 when they will travel to Vancouver to take on the UBC Thunderbirds. Game times is set for 5:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. 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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