LANGLEY, British Columbia – Thanks to a late fourth quarter surge, Trinity Western kept its playoff hopes alive with a 55-48 win over Manitoba Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
After the Bisons had pulled ahead 46-45 with just under five minutes to play, TWU responded with a 10-0 run, including six consecutive made from throws from Luca Schmidt (Langley), to turn the game the Spartans way and help the home side improve to 6-12 on the season.
With the win, the Spartans are now just one win behind a three-way tie for sixth place in the Pioneer Division. The top seven teams in the division qualify for the post-season.
The Spartans will travel to Lethbridge Feb. 19-20 for their final weekend of the regular season while the Bisons season came to an end Saturday with Manitoba finishing at 1-19.
After trailing 20-2 in the first quarter, the Spartans rallied in the second frame, outscoring Manitoba 19-2 to take a two-point lead into halftime. From there, the teams went back and forth until the final five minutes of the game, when the Spartans finally put the Bisons away.
"We've talked this entire week about having that pressure to have to win games to be able to make playoffs," said Spartans coach Cheryl Jean-Paul. "There are definitely times this season when we get caught up in what we want to happen, but forget how to get there. We were very flat to start the game, but I thought we had a great response to a really poor first quarter. They responded with way more intensity and a desire to change things around. To be able to do that in 10 minutes is a good sign.
"All week, I said that this doesn't have to be pretty. We have to be ready to grind it out and I thought we demonstrated the resolve to fight through. These are all really good lessons for a young group."
Tessa Ratzlaff (Abbotsford, B.C.) had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds along with four steals. Schmidt had 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals while Jessie Brown (Langley) added 12 points and a pair of steals and Kayla Gordon (Prince George, B.C.) had 10 points and five boards.
Rebecca Potter led the Bisons offensively with 13 points to go with six rebounds while Emma Thompson had an impressive night on the glass, collecting 15 boards. Nicole Konieczny also hit double digits in rebounds, grabbing 10 to go with four steals and six points.
Despite the Spartans shooting just 25.8 per cent (17-66) and the Bisons shooting 29.7 per cent (19-64), TWU was able to pull out the win late by holding Manitoba to just two points over the final 4:55.
The Bisons had a 53-49 edge on the glass, but TWU had 13 steals to Manitoba's eight.
Saturday's game marked the final regular season home game of Kristin Ford's career. She was honoured in a special post-game ceremony.
It was all Bisons early in the first quarter as they opened a 20-2 lead, holding a cold-shooting Spartans side to just one field goal through the first 7:27 of the game. TWU's Brown knocked down a pair of late 3-pointers to close the gap to 15 points, 24-9, by the end of the quarter. Montana Kinzel led the Bisons, who shot 47.6 per cent from the field (10-21), with eight points, while Brown's six points led a TWU side that shot just 15.8 per cent (3-19). Manitoba finished the quarter with 21 rebounds, while TWU had eight.
Manitoba hit a jumper 23 seconds into the second quarter, but then the Spartans took over. Trailing 26-9, TWU finished the quarter on a 19-0 run to take a 28-26 lead into the break. With the tables entirely flipped, the Spartans had a 19-9 edge on the glass and shot 36.8 per cent (7-19) from the field. Manitoba made just one of its 15 field goal attempts in the quarter.
With both sides struggling from the field, the Bisons edged the Spartans 12-10 in a low scoring third quarter to send the game to the final frame knotted 38-38. The Bisons shot 33.3 per cent in the quarter (5-15) while TWU was just two for 14 from the field.
The teams went back and forth for the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, with Manitoba holding a 46-45 edge with 4:55 to play. However, the Spartans rallied with 10 straight points to put TWU in full control. Thanks largely to Schmidt's free throw shooting in the final four minutes, the Spartans pulled away for a seven-point win.
Game Notes: In her final home game as a Spartan, Ford collected five rebounds, two points and two steals in 20 minutes of action…TWU went 6 for 26 from 3-point range while Manitoba was just one for 11 from beyond the arc.
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