The Trinity Western Spartans hung tough for the first quarter, but were unable to match the fourth-ranked Alberta Pandas the rest of the way, falling 79-52 in Canada West women’s basketball action.
The Spartans were on the road in Edmonton at the Saville Community Sports Centre on Nov. 21.
And for the first 10 minutes, they nearly matched the Pandas, trailing by just one basket, 17-15.
But Alberta doubled up Trinity Western 16-8 in the second quarter to take a 33-23 lead at half and never looked back, winning by 27 points.
The loss dropped Trinity Western to 1-6 while Alberta improved to 5-2.
The Spartans have lost six straight since opening the season with a win.
“We had a learning experience tonight playing a very good Alberta team,” said Spartans coach Cheryl Jean-Paul.
“They have a lot of maturity and size and they have the ability to use both.”
The Spartans nearly matched the Pandas in shooting percentage — 39.1 per cent for Trinity Western compared to 41.2 per cent for Alberta — but the big difference was in the amount of shots as the Pandas hoisted up 68 attempts compared to Trinity Western’s 46.
The Pandas also won the battle of the boards 41-24, including a 15-3 advantage in offensive rebounds.
“We came into this game with realistic expectations of trying to improve on some of the things we haven’t done well; I thought we demonstrated that in the first half and did some good things,” Jean-Paul said.
“It’s just a really tough team to play a solid 40 minutes against but we fought hard and I’m proud of how we played.”
Holly Strom led the offence for the Spartans with 15 points, but was the lone player on her team to hit double digits.
The team finishes its Prairie road trip with a game in Regina against the Saskatchewan Huskies.
