Scheduled Game: SASKATCHEWAN*

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 3 4 T Saskatchewan 16 17 18 13 64 Trinity Western 16 20 21 15 72 « FINAL

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Game Recap

Women's Basketball (Canada West)
Friday, November 07, 2008
TWU Spartans (72) vs. the University of Saskatchewan Huskies (64)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPARTANS MAKE IT TWO STRAIGHT

LANGLEY, British Columbia - Led by guard Laura Craig (Delta, B.C.) the Trinity Western University women's basketball team made it back-to-back wins with a solid 72-64 win over the visiting University of Saskatchewan Huskies Friday night at TWU's Langley, B.C. campus.

"Our half court defense was very sound tonight, and this was our best game of having a fluid offensive movement in the front court and we finally had a good shooting night," commented TWU head coach Kerby Court.

The fourth year guard paced the Spartans with 14 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals to bring the Spartans, who defeated UBC 54-48 last week, back to .500 on the season at 2-2, while handing the Huskies their first loss of the season at 2-1.

"Laura is still learning that she can take over a game, for the second game in a row she has take over 15 shots, which means that she is in the flow of the game and she starting to get a scorers mentality," commented Court.

The first half was an even battle as both teams looked to control the game. The Spartans and the Huskies were tied at 16-16 at the end of the first quarter with Trinity Western taking a three point advantage, 36-33, into the half time break. Forward Becky Atkinson (Delta, B.C.) with 10 points and two rebounds paced the Spartans in the first twenty, while Kim Tulloch (Regina) with eight points and two rebounds led the Huskies.

"Becky is a smart player and she has a very high skill set and when she plays the way she is capable of playing she is a good player," said Court.

After the break the two teams matched each other point-for-point and remained tied at 45-45 with just over five minutes remaining. TWU built a six point lead after a Katie Haworth (Gresham, Ore.) three point shot with 4:20 remaining, a lead which the Spartans maintained to the start of the fourth quarter, 57-51.

"We were doing a good job in the first half of stopping their half court attack, but our full court pressure wasn't effective and they were getting easy baskets off of it. So in the second half we made it a half court game, which was to our advantage," commented Court on his team's ability to build a lead in the third quarter.

The Huskies started the fourth quarter with an old fashioned three point play by Tulloch to cut the Spartans lead to three points, 57-54. Then the Spartans turned up their level of play. Over the next six minutes TWU outscored Saskatchewan 13 to two to take a commanding 14 point lead with just over three and a half minutes remaining in the contest.

With two minutes remaining the Huskies, who were down 12 points, 72-60, put full court pressure on the Spartans in an effort to close the gap, but they were unable to get anything going as the Saskatchewan dropped their first game of the season.

Including Craig, the Spartans finished with four players in double digits in scoring: Lauren Doubroff (Surrey, B.C.) with 13 points, five rebounds, Haworth with 12 points and Atkinson with 11 points. While Tulloch, who finished with 17 points and six rebounds for the Huskies was supported by Jill Humbert (Saskatoon) with 14 points, Jana Spindler (Port Williams, N.S.) with 12 points and Amy Prokop (Saskatoon) with 11 points.

The Spartans will attempt to make it three straight tomorrow night at TWU when they take on the University of Alberta Pandas, who tonight fell 72-62 to Simon Fraser. Game time is set for 5 p.m. The Huskies will continue their coastal road trip tomorrow night on Burnaby Mountain against SFU.

Game Notes: TWU shot 46% (28-61) from the field to Saskatchewan's 33% (23-70)...the Spartans outrebounded the Huskies 48-41...TWU committed 26 turnovers to Saskatchewan's 20...

-TW-

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