Scheduled Game: @British Columbia*

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 3 4 T Trinity Western 13 20 12 9 54 « FINAL British Columbia 15 6 12 15 48

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Game Recap

Women's Basketball (Canada West)
Saturday, November 01, 2008
TWU Spartans (54) at the University of British Columbia (48)

FOR IMMEDIATE REALESE

HISTORIC NIGHT FOR SPARTANS

VANCOUVER - Can you remember what you were doing five and a half years ago? Most can't, but that is how long it has been since the Trinity Western University women's basketball team defeated the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. The Spartans do not have to think back to January 11, 2003 anymore. They only have to think back a few hours as Saturday night TWU defeated UBC 54-48 on an historic night at UBC's War Memorial Gym.

The win gives the 1-2 Spartans their first win of the season, while the loss drops the Thunderbirds to 1-3. The Spartans earned that last 71-67 win at TWU's Langley, B.C. campus. When was the last time TWU won at Point Grey?

Never.

"We are proud of what we did and how hard each of our players worked tonight. We talked at the beginning of the year that we wanted to move our program forward and break new ground and tonight was a night that we were able to do that," said TWU head coach Kerby Court. "This was by far the most complete game that we have played all season. It is another team win. We had everybody contribute and it is something that we will be able to build on."

UBC tied or outscored Trinity Western in every quarter except the second on Saturday, but that turned out to be all the Spartans needed to pick up their first win of the year. They outscored the ‘Birds 20-6 in the second frame to take a 45-33 advantage into the locker room at halftime, and they were able to hold on to that lead for the rest of the game thanks to solid defence and a favorable turnover ratio. The Spartans had just 13 turnovers in the contest compared to 22 by the T-Birds.

Down 12 points heading into the fourth quarter, the T-Birds managed to close the gap on the Spartans to as little as five points, but were unable to find the big plays they needed at key moments and had to settle for a weekend split, as the visiting side was able to come up with key stops and hit enough free-throws down the stretch to quell the comeback attempt.

Laura Craig (4th year, Delta, B.C.) led all scorers with 18 points for the Spartans, and Amanda Knauff (4th year, Maple Ridge, B.C.) led the team with 10 rebounds. Leanne Evans controlled the glass for the T-Birds with 14 rebounds, and also led the scoring with nine points, as no UBC player was able to reach double-digits in the game. Eight different T-Birds had at least two turnovers in the contest. "Laura played well and hit some big shots for us," said Court. "And Amanda made some amazing super timed rebounds. She did an amazing job on the glass for us."

The T-Birds will be on the road next weekend for a two game set against the Victoria Vikes, while the Spartans return home to host the Saskatchewan Huskies and Alberta Pandas.

Game Notes: Since entering the CIS in 1999, TWU is 3-28 lifetime against UBC....the Spartans had 18 losses between wins...

-TW-

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