The Trinity Western Spartans women’s basketball team led from start to finish as they fashioned together back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
The Spartans defeated the Mount Royal Cougars 73-61 on Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. The win came one night after they needed overtime to dispatch the Cougars 86-76, also at the LEC.
Both teams are now 5-11 in Canada West conference play.
“We gritted this win out,” said Spartans coach Cheryl Jean-Paul.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we just found a way to get the victory.
“This was a determined group today; we were determined to do the things we had to get the win and we saw that from everyone who stepped onto the floor.”
Holly Strom led the way with her second straight double-double. She posted 29 points and 10 rebounds in the overtime victory and another 19 points and 13 boards in the rematch. She also had five steals and a blocked shot.
A big key on Saturday was the Spartans bench as two players — Chantelle Martin and Janelle Traber — chipped in 11 points apiece.
Traber also added six rebounds while Emily Knauff had nine points, seven rebounds and four assists.
In Friday’s win, Chelsey Olsen and Knauff had a dozen points apiece to go with Strom’s 29 points.
The Spartans had three players foul out by the end of overtime, but the defence came up big as they held the Cougars to just a pair of free throws in the extra session.
The team travels to Kamloops this weekend for a pair of games against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.
