It was a historic victory this past weekend for the Trinity Western Spartans.
An 80-51 win over the Mount Royal Cougars — coupled with a 87-82 victory over the Cougars the night before — gave the Spartans women’s basketball program a record of 12-6 with two games to play in the Canada West season.
Both weekend victories were in Calgary at Mount Royal’s Kenyon Court.
The 12 victories mark a program-high and the team has won six of their past seven games.
“This was the response we were hoping to receive after yesterday’s game,” said Spartans coach Cheryl Jean-Paul.
“The defensive intensity fueled our offence and allowed us to continue to push with everyone getting opportunities to be a part of the win.
“We had a great effort on the boards and sharper rotations, which created some fantastic looks and it was nice to see everyone contribute.”
The Spartans hit 45.7 per cent of their shots from the field and had a huge advantage in the paint, outscoring the Cougars 48-28 in that category.
Kayla Gordon — the Canada West first star of the week after averaging 26 points and 12 rebounds— led the way with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
Tessa Ratzlaff added 16 points and eight rebounds while Natalie Carkner had five points, seven steals, three rebounds and three assists.
In Friday’s victory, TWU trailed by two points after three quarters before eking out the five-point win.
Jessie Brown led the charge with 29 points, including hitting eight of 13 three-point attempts.
Gordon had another monster game with 26 points and 14 rebounds.
Men’s team breaks lengthy losing streak
One night after suffering a 14th straight defeat in conference play, the Trinity Western Spartans men’s basketball team returned to the win column.
The Spartans had lost 96-66 on Friday night to the Mount Royal Cougars in Calgary, but bounced back with a huge 71-54 win on Saturday.
The split leaves the team with a record of 3-15 heading into the final weekend of the season.
TWU was down 13 at the half but outscored the Cougars 48-18 over the final two quarters.
“I’m very proud of our toughness and willingness to compete,” said coach Aaron Muhic.
“We finally had a game were we put the little things together and we attacked for most of the game. It was a great overall team effort.”
Max Viitala led the Spartans with 21 points and Patrick Vandervelden had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Pogos Trunyan added 16 points, five steals and five rebounds.
In Friday’s loss, Viitala came off the bench to lead the team with 18 points while Vandervelden (12 points), Trunyan (10 points) and Vartan Tanielian (10 points) also hit double figures.
Regular season finales this weekend
Both Spartan teams are in action at home this weekend as they host the UBC Thunderbirds.
The women’s team plays at 5 p.m. while the men’s squad takes the floor at 7 p.m.
