LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans used a dominant fourth quarter to defeat the UNBC Timberwolves 77-50 and earn the right to host one of the Canada West quarter final match-ups Saturday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The win improves the Spartans to 13-5 and gives them at least second place in the Canada West Pacific Division, while the loss drops the Timberwolves to 1-15.
 
Leading by one point, 39-38, midway through the third quarter, the Spartans turned up the defence and found their range from outside to outscore the Timberwolves 38-12 over the final 15 minutes and secure the win. TWU's rebounding was instrumental in the contest, finishing with 58 total rebounds, one shy of the TWU record for rebounds in a conference game.
 
Fourth-year guard Cassidy Buchanan (Aldergrove, B.C.) with 14 points and four rebounds, fourth-year forward Myrlaine Shelvey (Langley, B.C.) with 14 points and four steals, and three rebounds, Savannah Vander Kooi with 13 points and six rebounds, and first-year forward Moriah Jansen (Spallumcheen, B.C.) with nine points and 10 rebounds led the Spartans.
 
Viktoriia Filatova with 15 points, Hazel Phillips with 11 points, and five rebounds, and Aurora Gabrera with eight points and eight rebounds led the Timberwolves.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now head on the road for their final two games of Canada West conference play. TWU will be at the Fraser Valley Cascades in Abbotsford, B.C., on January 30 at 6 p.m. (PT) and then at the UBC Okanagan Heat in Kelowna, B.C., on January 31 at 4:30 p.m. (PT); both games can be seen live on Canada West TV.
 
TWU will host the Canada West quarter finals and play-in games on February 13-14 at the Langley Events Centre.
 
QUOTABLE
Cheryl Jean-Paul, TWU Head Coach
"We've been trying to paint a few scenarios, not necessarily in specifically who we're playing against when it comes to a playoff situation, but more so the intensity and the attention to detail that we're going to need. So for today being the last home game for the regular season, we really wanted to make a statement about who we want to be when we play at home. And we had moments and spurts of that for the first three quarters, but I really think that the statement was in that fourth quarter where, we have the ability to use our depth to just wear away at opponents, and it's really nice to see contributions coming from all of our groups, our forwards, and our guards, and our starters, and our non-starters. A lot of our role players came in and did some great things too."
 
"I thought that we took care of the basketball when we needed to, and we rebounded extremely well, and those are all things that we're going to have to bring into our postseason. Obviously, we still have two very important games, just from a perspective of managing physicality and contact and speed and tempo. ?But this was a good one for us to obviously finish with and for Gracie, to win, on her last home games and regular season home game, but not her last home game. We are really excited about what we've accomplished already this season and how much work we've put into getting us to the point that we are right now."
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans started the game well, outscoring the Timberwolves 19-12 on the back of a 15-8 rebounding edge. TWU and UNBC were evenly matched in the second quarter with the Spartans outscoring the WolfPack 16-15 to give TWU a eight-point, 35-27, lead at the half. The Spartans continued to control the boards outrebounding the Timberwolves 30-15, including a 13-1 edge in offensive rebounds. UNBC stayed with TWU by shooting 39.3 percent (11-28) from the field to the Spartans 30.6 percent (11-36).
 
The Timberwolves had a strong start to the third quarter and cut into the Spartans lead to one point, 39-38, with five minutes to go in the quarter. TWU was able to extend their lead to four points, 46-42, at the end of the third quarter. The Spartans blew the game open in the final quarter with a 15-0 run to start the quarter and take a 61-42 lead with 7:30 remaining in the game. TWU continued to roll and finished with the 27 point win outscoring UNBC 31-8 in the final 10 minutes.
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans finished the night shooting 35.6 percent (26-73) from the field, 30.3 percent (10-33) from the three-point line, and 68.2 percent (15-22) from the foul line, while the Timberwolves shot 33.3 percent (20-60), 0.0 percent (0-18), and 62.5 percent (10-16) respectively.
• TWU had a 58-33 edge in rebounds and 16-6 in assists.
• UNBC had the edge in steals at 11-8.
• The Spartans finished with 15 turnovers, while the Timberwolves finished with 17 turnovers.
• The Spartans' rebounding stands at 59 at Manitoba on January 19, 2019
• Tonight was fifth-year forward Gracie Corneau's (Abbotsford, B.C.) final regular season home game as a Spartan.
• Earlier this season, November 7-8, the Spartans defeated the Timberwolves 64-51 and 55-53 in Prince George, B.C.
• TWU has now won 11 straight games against UNBC. The Spartans' last loss, 74-69,  to the Timberwolves was on February 5, 2022, at home in Langley, B.C.
• On Thursday, the Spartans defeated the Thompson Rivers WolfPack 68-26 at the Langely Events Centre in Langley, 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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