The weekend did not begin with Jessie Brown expecting herself to have a big game.
In fact, Brown thought she was in for another tough night on Friday at Winnipeg’s Dr. David F. Anderson Gymnasium.
“My check was face-guarding me so tight my whole first shift,” said Brown, a second-year guard from Langley’s Brookswood Secondary with the Trinity Western Spartans women’s basketball team.
Brown missed her first four shots — two of them free throws — committed two turnovers and had a foul in the game’s opening moments.
She figured her best bet would be to try and create some room for her teammates on the floor. And as Natalie Carkner began to hit a couple of shots — including three three-pointers — that loosened the defence on Brown and she responded in a big way.
Brown tied a Canada West record with nine made three-point attempts, and none were bigger than her final shot.
With 0.96 seconds on the clock and the Spartans trailing the Winnipeg Wesmen 73-71, Brown took the inbounds pass and with a defender in her face, nailed the long-distance shot for the win.
“To be honest, I didn’t even think I was going to be open,” she said.
“I just hucked it up, it wasn’t even an actual shot.”
The basket gave Brown 31 points and more importantly, helped the Spartans win 74-73 to snap a three-game losing streak. They finished the weekend sweep with a 73-50 win to improve to 3-3 on the season.
Kayla Gordon led the team win game two with 18 points and she was one of four Spartans to hit double figures.
Brown had 13 points in that game, including making four of seven three-point attempts.
She was named the Canada West third star of the week.
But more importantly, Brown seems to have shaken an early-season funk she found herself in.
“I played well during preseason and then as soon as the season started, I wasn’t playing very well,” she explained.
Known for her sharpshooting abilities, Brown was seven-for-22 over the first four games from beyond the arc, averaging a shade under a dozen points per game. She nearly matched the 47 points in those four games with a combined 44 points in Winnipeg.
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The Trinity Western Spartans men’s team is still in search of their first win after dropping a pair of games to the Winnipeg Wesmen. The Spartans lost 85-68 and 90-48 to fall to 0-6.
“Winnipeg played a great game. They shot the ball with lots of confidence. Which in a way made things more difficult for us,” commented TWU head coach Aaron Muhic.
“However in the second half when our team could’ve packed it in, we responded with energy and effort and a great team attitude. They chose to compete by diving on the floor for loose balls and competing on the defensive end of the floor.
Matt Blackaby and Lucas Mannes led the way in that department.”
Kelvin Smith led the team with a dozen points while Mannes was the leading scorer in Friday’s loss with 19 points.
Both Spartan teams are in action against the Saskatchewan Huskies this week.
On Nov. 26, the Spartans host the Huskies at the Langley Events Centre and on Nov. 27 the venue shifts to the David E. Enarson Gymnasium. The women’s games are both at 6 p.m. while the men tip off at 8 p.m.
