CALGARY, Alberta – The Trinity Western Spartans battled the Calgary Dinos all game and pushed the No. 5 Dinos till the final minutes before falling 77-70 Saturday night at the Jack Simpson Gym in Calgary, Alta. The loss drops the Spartans to 8-6, while the win moves Calgary to 13-3.

The Spartans trailed 39-31 at the half, and 51-48 after three quarters.

Fourth-year guard Jayden Gill (Abbotsford, B.C.) with 26 points, and three assists, fourth-year forward (Abbotsford, B.C.) with 13 points, and third-year forward Gracie Corneau (Abbotsford, B.C.) with eight points and seven rebounds led the Spartans. While Myriam Kone and Louise Rouse with 18 points each led the Dinos.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Dinos once again grabbed the lead early and didn't trail the rest of the way, but Saturday's script was much different as the Spartans kept the deficit to single digits the majority of the way and kept the game more on their terms.
 
A three-pointer by Kailey Reimer pull TWU within three at 71-68 with 36 seconds left on the clock, but the Dinos were able to ice the game away for their sixth win in a row to move to 13-3 on the season. The loss sends the Spartans to 8-6.
 
While the Dinos took the lead early in the first, it was evident the Spartans were up for the challenge in this one as Hailey Van Roekel's triple to close the opening quarter kept it a one-score game at 19-16.
 
Rouse got things going for the home team in the second with seven points and five rebounds to help establish a 39-31 lead at the break.
 
Calgary build an 11-point advantage late in the third after a free throw by Sydney Milum, only to see Gill get red hot – drilling three consecutive triples on three straight possession for the Spartans to make cut things to 51-48 with 10 minutes to play.
 
It was a similar story in the fourth, as the Dinos built a 13-point edge at 68-55, only to see TWU storm back and make it a three-point game late. But Pollyanna Storie hit a key jumper and Skumatova scored four points late to clinch the win for Calgary.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
"We wanted to play with a sense of urgency tonight, knowing that this was going to be a great opportunity to get a sense of what playoff basketball will feel like. We needed to commit to defending the three-point line better and I thought we fought a lot harder to take away the looks they established last night. Now we can talk details in terms of a few different passes and scoring looks but we saw a lot of great moments that we can build on and take back home into next weekend."
 
NOTABLE

• TWU finished the night shooting 38.5 percent (25/65) from the field, 40.9 percent (9/22) from the three-point line, and 68.8 percent (11/16) from the foul line. Calgary finished an 43.3 percent (29/67), 32.1 percent (9/28), and 71.4 percent (10/14) respectively.
• TWU had a 43-34 edge in rebounding.
• The Dinos had 24 points off of turnovers, while the Spartans had 14..
• TWU lost 90-63 Friday night to the Dinos in Calgary.
• The Spartans are 2-27 lifetime against the Dinos.
• TWU last defeated the Dinos, 88-76, on January 12, 2018, in Langley, B.C.

UP NEXT
The Spartans will now return home to host the Mount Royal Cougars on January 26-27. Game times at the Langley Events Centre are set for 6 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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