VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The UBC Thunderbirds pulled away from the Trinity Western Spartans in the second half to secure a 69-52 victory Saturday night at War Memorial gym in Vancouver, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans to 0-2, while the win moves the Thunderbirds to 2-0 in Canada West conference play.
 
TWU only trailed by five points at the half, 35-30 but were unable to stay with UBC in the final 20 minutes. The Thunderbirds expanded their lead to nine points, 48-39 at the end of the third quarter before pulling away for the final 17-point win.
 
Fourth-year guard Shemaiah Abatayo (Vancouver, B.C.) with 14 points, four rebounds, two steals, and two blocks, fifth-year forward Gracie Corneau (Abbotsford, B.C.) with 10 points, and five rebounds led the Spartans. While Keira Daly with 21 points, and Olivia Weekes with 13 points, and nine rebounds led the Thunderbirds.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will head to Calgary for a pair of games against the Mount Royal Cougars on November 8-9. Game time at Kenyon Court is set for 6 p.m. (MT), and 5 p.m. (MT) respectively. Both games can be seen live on Canada West TV.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
"Another tough battle today! We played a great first half but really didn't handle the increased pressure in the second. A great learning opportunity for us as experience will continue to be what we need to gain from these games. What it takes to play a complete game when your opportunity starts taking away the looks, we were making earlier can only come one game at a time as we have a lot of players new to this. But really proud of how we battled, and we'll keep working to close the gaps on the areas that we've been struggling with. We've had different players spike in different games so it's still working at getting everyone to score in the same game."
 
NOTABLE 

• The Spartans finished the game shooting 34.7 percent (17-49) from the field, 31.3 percent (5-16) from the three-point line, and 72.2 percent (13-18) from the free throw line. While the Thunderbirds shot 37.9 percent (25-66) from the field, 26.3 percent (5-19) from the three-point line, and 44.4 percent (4-9) from the free throw line.
• UBC outrebounded TWU 45-31.
• The Spartans had five blocks to the Thunderbirds four.
• TWU had 24 turnovers to UBC's 18.
• TWU is currently 7-55 lifetime against UBC.
• The Spartans last win over the Thunderbirds was 68-61 on December 4, 2021.

 
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.
 
About Trinity Western University
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in U SPORTS. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.
 
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