LANGLEY, British Columbia – In a fast-paced match-up the Trinity Western Spartans ran away late to defeat the UNBC Timberwolves 73-51 Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The win moves the Spartans to 11-6 in Canada West, while the loss drops the Timberwolves to 4-13.

Fourth-year guard Jayden Gill (Abbotsford, B.C.) with 20 points, 13 in the fourth quarter, third-year guard Ryann Lee (Calgary, Alta.) with 13 points, fourth-year guard Kailey Reimer (Abbotsford, B.C.) with 10 rebounds, and nine points, and third-year forward Gracie Corneau (Abbotsford, B.C,) with 11 points, and four rebounds led the Spartans. Rebecca Landry with 13 points, Adaiah Tupas-Singh with 11 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists, and Svetlana Boykova with 11 points, nine rebounds, and six assists led the Timberwolves.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Timberwolves started strong and quickly jumped out to a 17-11 lead after a layup from Tupas-Singh with 3:40 remaining in the quarter. The Spartans finished the quarter with a strong run and made it a two-point game after a lay-up from first-year centre Blessing Ibekwe (Coquitlam, B.C.) with 10 seconds remaining to make it a 17-19 game at the end of the quarter.
 
Five minutes into the second quarter the teams were tied at 24-24. But TWU started to control the game and after an 11-5 run were heading into the break with a six-point lead, 35-29, highlighted by a Lee three-point basket at the buzzer.
 
UNBC cut the TWU lead to seven points, 44-37 five minutes into the third quarter. But the Spartans finished the quarter strong and used an 11-6 run to lead by 12 points, 55-43 heading into the final quarter.
 
The two teams were content to exchange baskets for the start of the final quarter. With 3:30 remaining TWU still held onto a 12-point, 63-51 lead. Then, led by Gill's 13 fourth-quarter points, TWU outscored UNBC 10-0 over the final five minutes to earn the 22-point victory.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
"I really liked our response after a bit of a slower first quarter for us. The defensive statements that we made moving forward were closer to what we were looking for. The important piece for us was just how well we shared the basketball. Both Hailey and Shemaiah [Abatayo] (Vancouver, B.C.) (with seven assists each) did a great job of distributing the basketball and creating really easy scoring looks for other people. That is definitely a strength of theirs. Into the second half we did a much better job of playing to our strengths. This is weekend five of five of showing the development of our depth. It was really important for us this weekend, knowing that we still have another weekend left of league."
 
"It's really nice to see everybody coming in and being able to handle big chunks of time defensively and now offensively as well. The development of some of our younger players and some that have been playing less was on display today. And I think our leaders did a great job of setting the tempo and the pace and then allowing others to come in and finish the job. So it was a full team effort today and we just want to continue that into tomorrow."
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans shot 44. 6 percent (21/47) from the field, 44.4 percent from the three-point line (8/18), and 63.6 percent from the foul line (7/11). The Timberwolves shot 30.3 percent (20/66), 18ist.2 percent (4/22), and 70 percent (7/10) respectively.
• TWU had the edge in rebounds 51-33.
• The Spartans had 27 assists, while the Timberwolves had 16. The 27 assists for TWU is one shy of the program record of 28 set in a 73-50 win on November 21, 2015 at Winnipeg.
• The game took 1:20 hour to complete
• Last week the Spartans swept the Mount Royal Cougars, winning 76-59, and 65-54 in Langley, B.C.
• Last week UNBC swept with the TRU WolfPack, winning 78-69, and 64-60 in Prince George, B.C.
• The Spartans are 12-11 lifetime against the Timberwolves.
• The last time the Spartans lost to the Timberwolves was 74-69 on February 5, 2022.
• TWU has won six of their last seven games with UNBC.
• Entering tonight Gill was averaging 18.2 points per game, to lead Canada West.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Timberwolves will finish the two game series Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre. Game time is for 4 p.m. and can be seen live on Canada West 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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