The Victoria Vikes are unbeaten no more. The Trinity Western Spartans made sure of that.
The Spartans women’s basketball team posted a pair of victories, 76-68 and 70-63 over the visiting Vikes over the weekend at the Langley Events Centre.
The Vikes dropped to 4-2 on the Canada West season while the Spartans improved to 5-1. The five straight victories are also an all-time program best.
In Saturday’s game, the Spartans used dominating first and third quarters — 20-9 and 23-11 — to build an insurmountable lead. Up 21 after three quarters, the advantage was big as the Vikes got within six points before ultimately losing by seven.
“I thought we showed a lot better today in terms of playing as a team and moving without the basketball. We scrambled less today. I thought we handled their press better and still maintained our effectiveness on the rebounds,” said TWU coach Cheryl Jean-Paul.
“We still had stretches where we settled for shots, but I thought our style of play in the third quarter is what won the game for us.
“For us to be able to break out at that speed at that time of the game when it had been a battle for the first six quarters, was key for us. Obviously Victoria is not the type of team that gives up late in games and we almost learned that the hard way. But I think we were able to recover just enough to sustain the win.”
Tessa Ratzlaff led the way for the home side with 18 points and eight rebounds while Kayla Gordon had a double-double with a dozen points and 10 rebounds and Jessie Brown had 16 points, including four three-pointers.
The Spartans shot 43.5 per cent from the field.
In Friday’s victory, Brown (22 points) and Ratzlaff (20 points) led the offence. Sarah Buckingham chipped in with 10 points and eight rebounds.
And while the Spartans women’s team is off to a hot start to the season, the TWU men continue to struggle, falling to 0-6 after losing 85-62 and 93-77 to the Vikes.
The Spartans had tied the game at 59 late in the third quarter on the second night, but Victoria pulled away, outscoring TWU 34-18 over the final 13 minutes.
Vartan Tanielian led the Spartans with 24 points while Max Vitala had 17 points and eight rebounds.
Both TWU teams are on the road this weekend with games in Vancouver against UBC.
sports@langleytimes.com
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