LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans earned a weekend sweep of the UNBC Timberwolves with a 69-61 victory Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The win moves the Spartans to 12-6 in Canada West, while the loss drops the Timberwolves to 4-14.

The Spartans led 33-27 at the half, and 53-42 at the end of the third quarter.

Fourth-year guard Jayden Gill (Abbotsford, B.C.) with 18 points, three rebounds, and two assists, fourth-year guard Hailey Van Roekel (Langley, B.C.) with 12 points, and eight rebounds, and third-year guard Ryann Lee (Calgary, Alta.) with 10 points led the Spartans. Rebecca Landry with 17 points, Svetlana Boykova with 15 points, and 20 rebounds, and Bella Mesquita with 10 points, and seven rebounds led the Timberwolves.

AS IT HAPPENED
The two teams were even for the first quarter, with TWU leading 10-9 after 10 minutes of play. The Spartans started the second quarter on a 16-10 run to take a 26-19 lead five minutes into the quarter. The two teams exchanged baskets for the remainder of the half as TWU went into the break with a six-point, 33-27, lead.
 
The second half started the same as the first half ended with the teams exchanging baskets, as TWU maintained a seven-point, 42-35 lead. The Spartans finished the quarter strong and after 30 minutes led the Timberwolves 53-42. With 3:27 to go UNBC's Boykova hit a three-point basket to cut the Spartan lead to seven points, 61-54. But TWU's Lee responded for the Spartans with back-to-back three-point baskets to put the Spartans up 67-54 with 2:30 remaining in the game. UNBC pushed back and cut the lead to 67-61 after a layup by Viktoriia Filatova with :48 seconds remaining. Jazmin Avila sealed the game for the Spartans with a lay-up at the 22-second mark, as TWU held on for the eight-point win, 69-61.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Cheryl Jean-Paul
"There are different ways of winning a basketball game, sometimes it clicks and is smooth and sometimes you have to grind it out. But learning all those different ways to win are valuable lessons as we get into a tough weekend next week and then head into playoffs. The goal is to play to win regardless of the style and what is happening in the game. And I thought that we responded well and to pushing up a lead, losing it, and pushing up again and not giving it up."
 
On the graduating seniors
"With our three seniors there is just so many valuable things that they do for our team both on and off the court. Whether it is offence or defence they definitely create and set the tone for our team. They have been paving the way for our younger group to thrive and every time one of them comes off the floor we are excited to see what happens with the next person who steps onto the floor. And you can't do that if you don't have seniors that have created a big enough space for them to make a few mistakes here or there, but not so costly. The opportunity for them to get off of the floor and rest is going to be really important to us heading into the next few weeks."
 
"Really excited about the statement that they have made with back-to-back wins this weekend. Finishing off their home career with two wins not an easy thing to do, so just really proud of everything that they have done for our program and who they are and hoping that the younger ones take in as much as they can from them, because all of the things that they do are significant things that any team will want to have. We have some younger players that are learning some great lessons from them all ready. We can see that developing. Excited to see, not just finishing well, but also the future of this group based on the contributions that these seniors have made."
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans shot 40.3 percent (25/62) from the field, 34.8 percent from the three-point line (8/23), and 55 percent (11/20) from the foul line. The Timberwolves shot 26 percent (19/73), 20 percent (5/25), and 66.7 percent (18/27) respectively.
• UNBC had the edge in rebounds 59-45, including 29 offensive rebounds. Boykova's 20 rebounds is the second highest in Canada West this season, MRU's Harriette Mackenzie had 22 at Lethbridge on Dec. 2, 2023.
• The Spartans had 17 assists, while the Timberwolves had 11.
• The Spartans defeated the Timberwolves 73-51 Friday night.
• The Spartans are 13-11 lifetime against the Timberwolves.
• The last time the Spartans lost to the Timberwolves was 74-69 on February 5, 2022.
• TWU has won seven of their last eight games with UNBC.
• Entering tonight Gill was averaging 18.3 points per game, to lead Canada West.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will finish off the Canada West regular season next week at the UFV Cascades on February 9-10 at the UFV Athletic Centre in Abbotsford, B.C. Game times are for 6 p.m. and 5 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.
 
-TW-