WOLFPACK WBB LOSE AT BUZZER TO TRINITY

(Tracy Kocs about to shoot)
For immediate Release: January 17,2009

Langley, BC—It could be the game which years from now, the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack Women’s Basketball Team will look back upon as one of the cornerstones in their development.  The WolfPack, with  six first year players, five second year and one third year player lost at the buzzer to the hometown Trinity Western University Spartans.  The score was 58-57.

 Trinity Western University's Laura Craig (Delta, B.C.),  with 22 points, nine rebounds and eight steals, hit a lay-up in traffic as the clock expired to give the Spartans a nail-biting  The win improves the Spartans to 10-7, while the loss drops the WolfPack to 3-14. It is the first time in TWU's Canada West history that the Spartans have hit double-digits in wins.

"I'm feeling relieved it shouldn't have been that close, but they made it tough," commented an excited Craig after the game. "I was fortunate that opportunities just presented themselves for me to get open shots tonight."

“We played hard but blew it on defensive assignments with six seconds to go, “ stated WolfPack coach Scott Reeves. “It was inexperience all the way.

With 15 seconds remaining it looked like the Spartans had the game, leading by one point with 13 on the shot clock, but TWU turned the ball over with the 56-55 lead and TRU called timeout and inbounded the ball at half. The WolfPack's Sarah Cameron (Langley, B.C.) drove the right side of the key and scored a lay-up to put the visitors up 57-56 with six seconds remaining. TWU called the timeout and set up the final play. Craig inbounded the ball and Spartans swung the ball around the court to forward Becky Atkinson (Delta, B.C.). The former South Delta teammates once again combined as Atkinson hit a cutting Craig for the game winning lay-up as the buzzer sounded.

The game did not start as exciting as it finished. The first quarter was an unfortunate replay of Friday's game. Neither team was able to find the basket or hold on to the ball as they combined for 13 turnovers, while scoring a combined 17 points with the WolfPack leading 9-8 after ten minutes of play. TWU shot 26 percent (4-15), while TRU shot 20 percent (3-15) from the field.

The struggles on offence continued for both teams in the second quarter. TRU continued to have the upper hand both in points and turnovers. The Wolpack outscored the Spartans 13-12 to take a 22-20 lead into the break, while committing 16 turnovers to TWU's 15.

Things got going for both teams in the second half. In the third quarter the two squads scored more points than they had in the entire first half as they matched each other bucket for bucket for the majority of the quarter, with both teams tied at 40-40 with two minutes remaining. The WolfPack's Tracy Kocs (Coquitlam, B.C.) hit a lay-up at the buzzer to allow TRU to outscore TWU 25-22 to take a 47-42 lead at the end of 30 minutes. The play was much cleaner with the two teams only committing eight total turnovers.

With seven minutes remaining TWU's Craig got going. She hit a deep three pointer to give the Spartans a 49-48 lead and then followed it up with an open court steal. On the ensuing inbound she found Corina Reimer (Abbotsford, B.C.) in the post to put TWU up 51-48. TRU tied the game up at 51-51 on a free throw and a follow up by Kaitlyn Widsten (Tsawwassen, B.C.). It was back and forth from then on. TWU's Jordan Verhoeff (Calgary) hit a transition lay-up to put the Spartans up 56-55 with a minute and a half remaining. TWU outrebounded TRU 3-0 over the next minute to maintain the lead and possession with 26 seconds remaining.

Leading the way for the WolfPack were Tracy Kocs with 14 points and seven rebounds and Diane Schuetze (Vernon, B.C.) with 13 points and eight rebounds.

 Next up for the WolfPack is at home against the University of Victoria Vikes on January 23 and 24 th. It’ll be the final home game of the season for TRU and the final one for their lone 5 th year player, Sarah Cameron.

Game Notes: TWU shot 34 percent (22-64) from the field, 29 percent (7-24) from the three point line and 43 percent (7-16) from the foul line, while TRU shot 40 percent (20-50), 21 percent (3-14) and 66 percent (14-21) respectively...the WolfPack had 28 turnovers, while the Spartans had 26.

(with assistance of the Trinity Western Spartans Sports Information Department)