Viktoriia Filatova’s career-high 20-point game wasn’t enough to stop the Trinity Western Spartans.
They left Brownridge Court with a 26-point win over Filatova’s UNBC Timberwolves, defeating the hosts 88-62 Saturday night at the Northern Sport Centre.
Shemaiah Abatayo picked up a game-high 26 points for the Spartans. Cassidy Buchanan netted 19 points and Colette Van der Hoven came off the bench to sink 15.
Spartans forward Jasmine Avila delivered 11 rebounds.
The Spartans overcame a seven-point deficit at the end of the first quarter and outscored UNBC 23-10 in the second quarter to gain a lead they held the rest of the game.
Sveta Boykova hit double figures for the TWolves with 11 points, while rookie Avin Jahangiri finished with nine.
Trinity Western (7-5) remained third in the Canada West Pacific Division standings. The sixth-place TWolves (3-9) lost their fourth in a row.
In the men’s game that followed, the injury-plagued TWolves were unable to overcome an 18-point deficit at the half. They matched Trinity Western point-for-point in the final two quarters but lost 75-57.
The loss kept UNBC (1-11) in the Pacific Division basement. Trinty (6-7) sits third in the Pacific.
Josh Bevin, with 21 points, and Jerric Palma, with 16, provided the offensive spice for the visitors. Spartans guard David Mutabazi contributed six assists and nine rebounds.
TWolves’ scoring leader collected a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Evgeny Baukin. Marcus Wilson shot a career-high 13 points and Chis Ainsley ended up with 11.
UNBC forward Josh Gillespie played his first game in two months since suffering an ankle sprain Nov. 9 in Victoria. The Idaho product played 28 minutes Saturday, shot 2-for-5 from the field and hit for five points.
Both UNBC teams will be on the road this weekend in Kamloops to face the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack.
