The Trinity Western Spartans could not overcome a poor first quarter, dropping their seventh straight Canada West conference game.
The women's basketball team wrapped up a two-game Prairie road trip 鈥� they lost the opener 鈥� on the wrong end of an 81-57 score to the fifth-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies in Saskatoon on Nov. 22.
The Huskies improved to 6-1 while the Spartans fell to 1-7.
Making matters harder for the team was the fact the bus they rode on overnight from Saskatoon to Edmonton had its heat fail.
"We played as though we were the tired and unprepared team early in the game," said Trinity Western coach Cheryl Jean-Paul.
"We definitely showed some improvement as the game progressed.
"I challenged our team at halftime to dig deeper and not let our circumstances dictate how we would finish the game (and) I think they definitely responded to that challenge."
The Huskies led 24-7 after one quarter and 43-24 at the half. Saskatchewan put the game entirely out of reach with a 23-13 third-quarter advantage. The Spartans won the final quarter 20-15.
Janelle Traber had 15 points to lead Trinity Western while Holly Strom added 10. Kayla Gordon came off the bench and chipped in 10 points as well.
The Spartans close out the first half of the regular season with a pair of home games against the Victoria Vikes (5-3) on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30 at the 91原创 Events Centre. The first game tips off at 6 p.m. while the second is at 5:30 p.m.
