WBB: Spartans pull past Griffins for quarters berth
March 5, 2022
CALGARY - There must be something about Calgary's gym that makes Trinity Western feel right at home.
For the second consecutive night, a Spartan erupted in the scoring column as third-year Nicole Fransson poured in 38 points in 36 minutes to help lead TWU to a 77-71 thrilling win over MacEwan Saturday in the Canada West Second Round from Calgary's Jack Simpson Gym.
That comes one night after the TWU men also advanced to the quarter-finals, with Mason Bourcier exploding for 41 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists.
But it wasn't Bourcier who was needed to be kept up with so much as MacEwan's Noelle Kilbreath, who had quite the impressive performance of her own, finishing with a career-high 29 points on 12-20 shooting, including going 4-7 from behind the arc.
Tied at 50 entering the final quarter of a neck-and-neck game the whole way, Trinity Western was able to just do enough down the stretch to create separation and start their Canada West Tournament off with a win.
"We've been talking about handling pressure and distractions the last several weeks to get ready for this moment," Spartans head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul said. "It's nice to see that - even though we dealt with both of those things - I thought at the end we handled it well. I thought we really finished well."
MacEwan started the fourth off strong, taking a 59-56 lead after a Kilbreath lay in with 7:21 to play.
TWU responded with a 12-2 run that spanned nearly four minutes as Fransson's jumper with 3:40 left gave her 29 points and her team a 68-61 lead.
The Griffins continued to battle, but couldn't get any closer as their season came to an end.
"Obviously, it's disappointing," MacEwan head coach Katherine Adams said. "We came in and I thought we battled really hard. I'm so proud of these girls. I mean, the growth that they've made over the course of this season, from pre-season back October until now, we're a totally different team and I think when we're playing our best, we can compete with the best team in this conference.
"They've proved that time and time again. Obviously, we would have liked things to go a little different today, but, they battled hard and there's a lot to learn from and a lot to grow on moving forward for next season."
Trinity Western now moves on to the quarter-finals where they'll take on fifth-seeded Lethbridge, who defeated Manitoba, 80-77, Saturday at Mount Royal. The Pronghorns and Spartans will square off Sunday at 3 p.m. from Jack Simpson Gym.
For the second consecutive night, a Spartan erupted in the scoring column as third-year Nicole Fransson poured in 38 points in 36 minutes to help lead TWU to a 77-71 thrilling win over MacEwan Saturday in the Canada West Second Round from Calgary's Jack Simpson Gym.
That comes one night after the TWU men also advanced to the quarter-finals, with Mason Bourcier exploding for 41 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists.
But it wasn't Bourcier who was needed to be kept up with so much as MacEwan's Noelle Kilbreath, who had quite the impressive performance of her own, finishing with a career-high 29 points on 12-20 shooting, including going 4-7 from behind the arc.
Tied at 50 entering the final quarter of a neck-and-neck game the whole way, Trinity Western was able to just do enough down the stretch to create separation and start their Canada West Tournament off with a win.
"We've been talking about handling pressure and distractions the last several weeks to get ready for this moment," Spartans head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul said. "It's nice to see that - even though we dealt with both of those things - I thought at the end we handled it well. I thought we really finished well."
MacEwan started the fourth off strong, taking a 59-56 lead after a Kilbreath lay in with 7:21 to play.
TWU responded with a 12-2 run that spanned nearly four minutes as Fransson's jumper with 3:40 left gave her 29 points and her team a 68-61 lead.
The Griffins continued to battle, but couldn't get any closer as their season came to an end.
"Obviously, it's disappointing," MacEwan head coach Katherine Adams said. "We came in and I thought we battled really hard. I'm so proud of these girls. I mean, the growth that they've made over the course of this season, from pre-season back October until now, we're a totally different team and I think when we're playing our best, we can compete with the best team in this conference.
"They've proved that time and time again. Obviously, we would have liked things to go a little different today, but, they battled hard and there's a lot to learn from and a lot to grow on moving forward for next season."
Trinity Western now moves on to the quarter-finals where they'll take on fifth-seeded Lethbridge, who defeated Manitoba, 80-77, Saturday at Mount Royal. The Pronghorns and Spartans will square off Sunday at 3 p.m. from Jack Simpson Gym.