Victory eluded the Trinity Western Spartans twice over the weekend, despite leading both contests heading into the fourth quarter.
The Spartans women’s basketball team hosted the UNBC Timberwolves in a pair of Canada West conference games at Langley Events Centre with the Prince George visitors pulling out 67-61 and 65-60 victories.
The games were played Nov. 15 and Nov. 16 and the losses drop the Spartans to 1-5.
In the first game, Trinity Western was up 47-46 but was outscored 21-14 in the fourth quarter. The rematch saw the Timberwolves use a 21-10 fourth-quarter advantage to erase a six-point deficit.
And in both games it was a case of missed opportunities.
“I think the theme of missed opportunities is the same as last night but it just showed up in different spaces tonight,” said Spartans coach Cheryl Jean-Paul.
“We had six to nine point leads multiple times in the first three quarters, but instead of going up by double digits, we let them crawl back into it.
“We tended to respond to their assertion but never really took it ourselves.”
Holly Strom, the team’s leading scorer, responded from just eight points in the first game, to score 21 in game two.
She was the lone Spartan to reach double figures.
Jean-Paul liked Strom’s determination on both ends of the floor as well as the energy from Kayla Gordon.
“Those two really wanted to win today’s game and we didn’t have that across the board,” said Jean-Paul.
“We always had effort but it’s about effort in combination with execution. We worked hard but then couldn’t finish.”
The team travels to play Alberta on Nov. 21 and Saskatchewan on Nov. 22.
