It is back to the drawing board for the Trinity Western Spartans women’s basketball team.
The Spartans closed the fall semester of their Canada West season with a pair of close losses to the visiting Victoria Vikes, falling 73-66 and 65-58 over the weekend at the Langley Events Centre.
The results drop the team’s record to 1-9 while Victoria improved to 7-3.
The common theme in both games was Trinity Western matching the Vikes step for step in the first three quarters only to see Victoria pull away in the final 10 minutes.
“I think our challenge is to really evaluate where good teams are taking advantage of how we play defensively and some of our weak areas offensively and how do we turn those things around,” said Trinity Western coach Cheryl Jean-Paul.
“I think we are are inches away from being able to win some of these games. We have to make sure we’re focused on the progression of our program, the progression of our team and the progression of our athletes.”
In the opener of the two-game set on Nov. 29, Victoria raced out to a 24-13 lead, but by the half, the lead was down to a single point, 32-31.
The second half saw the Spartans keep the game close, and even take a brief lead in the third quarter, but they ultimately lost 73-66.
Holly Strom matched a career high with 31 points, and also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
“I thought Holly was very focused today,” said Jean-Paul.
“But when she’s shooting better than 50 per cent, I still think she could have had more than the 25 shots she took.
“That’s maturity that we need to gain from other players on the floor to realize how the game is going.”
Janelle Traber added 10 points.
In the second game, the Spartans led 21-20 after one quarter but the Vikes used a 17-7 second quarter to lead 37-28. The third quarter saw Trinity Western outscore Victoria by that same 17-7 margin, giving the home side a 45-44 lead. But the Vikes pulled ahead for good in the fourth, winning by seven points, 65-58.
Strom led the Spartans with 21 points, but she was the only player on the team to hit double figures. She also had a team-high eight rebounds.
Luca Schmidt added nine points, five rebounds and five assists.
