Victoria Jacobse blocks a shot during Friday’s homecourt clash vs. TWU.
The Trinity Western Spartans turned in a tough defensive performance on the road Friday evening, earning a 65-50 win over the UFV Cascades in Canada West women’s basketball action.
The Spartans limited the Cascades to 27 points over the first 30 minutes of the game, and held UFV to 34.7 per cent shooting from the field to improve to 10-2. The Cascades fell to 4-10.
“Trinity’s a good veteran squad, and they taught us some lessons this weekend,” Cascades head coach Al Tuchscherer said. “It’s a shame that we came out with an effort like we did tonight.”
The first half was closely contested, but the Spartans closed the second quarter on an 8-0 run to stake out a 30-17 lead. They scored the first four points of the third and continued to expand the margin from there, going up 19 points (44-25) on an Ashleigh Barnes jump shot late in the frame.
The Cascades found some offensive traction in the fourth, but the deficit was too much to overcome.
UFV’s Kate Head pushes the ball upcourt.
Sara Simovic paced the Cascades with 17 points, and Taylor Claggett and Shayna Litman both notched eight points and seven rebounds.
TWU’s Jessie Brown counted a trio of three-pointers among her game-high 18 points, Tessa Ratzlaff scored 11 points, and Kayla Gordon hauled down 11 boards.
“They’re a team that forces you to have to play well defensively,” TWU head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul said of the Cascades. “They’ve got a lot of weapons – Simovic is so good off the dribble, and with the impact their bigs can have on the game.
“If you think about what happens going into playoffs, if you’re shot’s not dropping, you have to rely on defence. That’s not something our program has necessarily been known for, and it’s something we’ve been working really hard towards.”
The Cascades hit the road next weekend to face the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.
BOUNCE PASSES: Friday was Cascades Hall of Fame night, and five inductees – athletes Peter Wauthy and Denise Rehman, builders Scott Fast and Ken Fernstrom, and the 1995 men’s soccer team – were celebrated in an on-court ceremony between the women’s and men’s basketball games.
Comments are closed.