LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans had one of their lowest scoring halves in their history, but the Spartans defence got TWU a weekend split with a 44-38 win over the Victoria Vikes Saturday afternoon at the Langley Evens Centre in Langley, B.C. the win improves the Spartans to 11-5, while the loss drops the Vikes to 7-8.
 
TWU only managed to score 11 points in the opening half, trailing 12-4 after the first quarter and 23-11 at the half. But the Spartans' defence held on until the TWU offence found its way in the second half. The Spartans outscored the Vikes 19-6 in the third quarter to lead 30-29 heading into the final quarter. The Spartans continued to control the game as they outscored the Vikes 14-9 in the final quarter on their way to the six point win.
 
Fourth-year guard Cassidy Buchanan (Aldergrove, B.C.), with 15 points and three steals, led the Spartan team that had nine players find the scoresheet. Mimi Sigue with 10 points and seven rebounds, and Iva Kalabric with eight points and six rebounds, led the Vikes.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now host the Thompson Rivers WolfPack and the UNBC Thunderbirds on Thursday, January 22, and Saturday, January 24, at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. Game times are set for 6 p.m. (PT) and 4 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Canada West TV.
 
QUOTABLE
Cheryl Jean-Paul, TWU Head Coach
"This was a much better response in terms of the battle that it takes to win one of these kinds of games, whether it's against another top team in our division, or it's looking ahead to where we want to be when it comes to playoffs."
 
""I thought we left way too much off the scoreboard yesterday, and even though we struggled to score in the first half tonight, our defence really kept things in check until our offence could find its way, which, Obviously, the second half was much better, but it was nice to see us rely on our defence, to generate those scoring looks, some great transition scoring looks coming out of defensive stops and steals, and really proud of the shot clock violations that we had Victoria commit. We just really fought through every single possession."
 
It would have been nice to come away with two wins, but I thought we managed our controllables a lot better today. We managed the loose-ball situations better, and we forced 28 turnovers. That just helped us understand that when we do have weaker shooting games or the shots are just not dropping, we can hold on defence for long enough until the offensive shots start dropping."
 
"I think that was a great message for ourselves on how reliant we can be on our defence. ?Now, that's three games in a row where we've held our opponents in the 60s or lower. And for us to be the kind of team that we want to be, that has to be something that remains consistent. So the fact that they scored 38 points and consistently struggled to score, with no major runs. ?Those are really good signs for the future. And now we just have to be ready to play this level of defence and get the scoring looks. So that's the next phase, and it's nice to be moving into it without still having to fix some of the earlier issues we had early this semester."
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans finished the night shooting 31 percent (18-58) from the field, 9.5 percent (2-21) from the three-point line, and 60 percent (6-10) from the foul line, while Victoria shot 28.8 percent (15-52), 5.9 percent (1-17) and 70 percent (7-10) respectively.
• Victoria had a 41-35 edge in rebounds. While TWU had a 13-9 edge in steals and 8-6 in assists.
• The Spartans finished with 19 turnovers, while the Vikes finished with 29 turnovers.
• TWU lost 62-60 to Victoria Friday night at the Langley Events Centre.
• The Spartans are currently 22-50 lifetime against the Victoria Vikes.
• Earlier this season, the Spartans defeated the Vikes 76-67 in their Canada West home opener on October 24 at the CARSA in Victoria, B.C.

 
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as in the NAIA in track and field and cross country and as an independent team in men's rugby and women's and men's disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 14 U SPORTS team championships and 33 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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