Scheduled Game: VICTORIA*

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 3 4 T Victoria 21 17 20 16 74 « FINAL Trinity Western 17 23 7 15 62

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Game Recap

Women’s Basketball (Conference)
Saturday, October 28, 2006
UVIC (74) TWU (62)

SPARTANS CAN’T STAY HOT IN BATTLE WITH VIKES
UVIC gets gritty to cool TWU in the second half

LANGLEY, British Columbia– The Spartan women faced a physical Vikes team on the back end of their home-opening weekend Saturday night, and couldn’t quite match them, falling short in the second half in a 74-62 loss.  Each faced top-ranked teams the previous night – the Spartans come off a loss to the defending national champions UBC Thunderbirds, while the Vikes couldn’t overtake the SFU Clan, but it is the UVIC women that open their season 1-1, while TWU remain eager to prove they are better than an 0-2 start.

The first half appeared to be a track-meet of a game, and the Vikes took advantage behind the speed of their 1st year point guard, Michelle Lee (North Vancouver), who broke Spartan pressure for a 13-8 lead.  The Spartans held on and ran their way back in the game to lead at half, 40-38 on a last second three from second year guard Laura Craig (Delta).

“Tonight we started to play defense with the pressure and intensity that we need to compete with good teams,” commented TWU Head Coach Danielle Gardner. “We stayed with it and we were able to score in transition.”

The second half revealed a UVIC team that held their ground with every cut, refusing to waiver in the face of tight defense.  They found way to move the ball to open players, more often than not finding 3rd year forward Janet Hatfield (Fort McMurray, A.B.) for two of her 21 points.  Hatfield shot 10-13 from the field while also pulling in 8 rebounds.

“In the second half Victoria came at us and pushed us around.  They were the aggressors,” said Gardner.  “By the time we responded, they had built up a lead that left us playing catch up for the rest of the game.  We gave them an opportunity to take the game at the beginning of the second half, and they took advantage of it.”

The run that put the Vikes up 61-48 in the third quarter proved to be a very critical point in the game.  Not only did they go up by 13, they made a statement by playing aggressively and asserted themselves on defense, forcing tough shots.  The aggressive UVIC team held TWU to 22 second half points, out-shooting them 48% from the field to a weary 17.4% on 4 for 23.  The Spartans, twice, closed the lead to 10, looking as if they could comeback, but the Vikes pushed them back to their heels, getting the basket and the foul twice in transition.

The Spartans look to heat up when they host the University of Regina Cougars on Friday, November 3, 2006 at 6:00pm followed by the Brandon University Bobcats on the Saturday.

Game Notes: TWU guard Katie Haworth had a game-high seven steals, one of the TWU record of eight which is held by teammate Laura Craig...

-TW-

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