Saturday night at the NSC, the UNBC Timberwolves (0-5) dropped a narrow 55-53 decision to the Trinity Western Spartans (4-2). Colette Van der Hoven led Trinity Western with 17 points and added 10 rebounds for a double-double. Blessing Ibekwe snagged an additional 14 boards for Trinity Western. At the other end Viktoriia Filatova put forth an incredible offensive performance for UNBC. The third-year Russian guard finished with 26 points which matches per previous career-high, and she buried six of her eight threes. On the glass Aurora Cabrera pulled down 16 rebounds, added three blocks and nine points in defeat.

A 5-2 run to start for Trinity Western. A three from Van der Hoven and a jumper from Vander Kooi. The Timberwolves first bucket came from Cabrera. Manak then hit a tough layup in traffic to push the score to 5-4 early.

The first bucket of the night from Filatova was an elbow three which opened up an 11-9 advantage for the hosts, but the Spartans answered with a 7-0 run. With seconds ticking down in the quarter, Filatova took a pass from Lorenn Caceres and drilled her second triple of the period, pushing the score to a slim 16-14 lead for Trinity Western. Ibekwe (4) was the top scorer through 10 for TWU while Filatova led the way with six for UNBC.

Filatova's third tree of the evening opened the second quarter scoring, and moved UNBC up by one. But Van der Hoven answered with a triple and a layup at the other side to put TWU back on top. The two buckets from Van der Hoven kickstarted a 9-0 run for the Spartans, but Filatova's fourth and fifth threes halted the run, and gave her a team-high 15 points with 2:08 to go in the quarter. A three-point play from Cabrera then sparked the NSC crowd and got UNBC back within two. After a single Spartan free-throw, Claire Huang responded with a tough layup in traffic, pushing the score to 30-29 for the Spartans at half.

For Trinity Western, Van der Hoven led the way with eight points while Blessing Ibekwe had a team-high six rebounds. For UNBC Filatova was the first-half star pouring in 16 on five-of-six from beyond the arc. Cabrera had a game-high seven first-half rebounds.

Full credit to the Spartans who opened the third quarter on an 8-2 run with Van der Hoven supplying four of them. That run ended with a terrific turn-around two from Hazel Phillips, another layup in traffic from Huang  and a single free-throw make from Filatova which moved the score to 38-36 for Trinity Western.

Filatova opened the fourth with a lay-up plus the harm. She converted on the free-throw to give UNBC the lead again at 39-38. A pair of free-throws from Buchanan and a jumper from Mavleen Chahal opened up a three-point lead for TWU.

Neither squad was able to separate from the other as Trinity held a slim 48-45 lead with two minutes remaining. Cabrera hit a layup to move UNBC back within one.

Once again though Van der Hoven hit a timely jumper and Chahal followed with a three, and the gap was again at six with less than a minute to play for UNBC.

A single free-throw late from Vander Kooi provided the final dagger, and for a second straight night the Spartans were able to stave off a scrappy Timberwolves squad to earn a 55-50 victory.

Despite a pair of losses this weekend, the Timberwolves can hold their heads high knowing they put forth two commendable efforts against a divison rival. They'll look to build off this weekend when they head to UBCO to battle the Heat next weekend on Friday and Saturday.