A poor first quarter — they were outscored 22-3 — was too much to overcome for the Trinity Western Spartans women's basketball team.
The Spartans dropped a 71-59 decision to the visiting Calgary Dinos on Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
The loss came on the heels of a big 79-51 win the night before over the Lethbridge Pronghorns. The mixed results give Trinity Western a 4-6 record in Canada West conference action.
“Sometimes it feels like you almost over prepare for a team and you know what they’re going to do so much that you freeze in the moment and I think that’s what happened,” said Spartans coach Cheryl Jean-Paul.
“There was a physicality to the game that we knew and we didn’t respond to that. We were hoping to get calls that we didn’t. You go down 22-3 in a quarter and you’re going to have to do some amazing things in the next few quarters to win.
“We knew the first quarter was going to have a crazy tempo and we ended up just being passengers. We had scoring opportunities in that quarter, but we just didn’t finish.
“However to win the second half and to win both quarters, those are things we have to be able to take positives from.”
Trinity Western was led by Sarah Cleveland, who had a career-high 18 points, Holly Strom, who had 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Emily Knauff, who had 11 points and six boards.
The game against Lethbridge saw the Spartans dominate the first half, leading 45-14 at the break.
“Our defensive intensity was great in the first half. It’s nice to actually talk about something and emphasize something and really see it happen," Jean-Paul said.
Strom led the way with 19 points and 13 rebounds while Cleveland had 16 and Tiffany Olsen chipped in with 13 points.
The Spartans are in Kelowna this weekend for a pair of games against the UBC Okanagan Heat (2-6).