Trinity Western head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul enters her ninth season at the helm of Spartans' basketball, and fifth-year forward Tessa Ratzlaff will play her biggest role yet in the fortunes of a program which last season sat on the cusp of national tourney qualification. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of TWU athletics)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Trinity Western women’s basketball: A taste of March Madness gives Spartans a new recipe for success

LANGLEY — The date and the stakes were not lost on anyone within the world of Trinity Western women’s basketball. Yes, for the first time ever, a game in the month of March. And with it, a last-ditch shot to qualify for the U Sport Final 8 championships.

With a tenacity honed from the physicality of water polo, Taylor Claggett has brought a natural level of abandon to her post in the post with Abbotsford's Fraser Valley Cascades. (Photo courtesy Dan Kinvig/Fraser Valley Cascades athletics)
Feature University Women's Basketball

UFV’s Taylor Claggett: How the Cascades’ high-motor post makes her waves with all-out effort on and off the court

ABBOTSFORD — Survival in the painted areas of the basketball court has often been described as a ‘sink-or-swim’ proposition.

After being recruited out of tiny Single-A school Cedars Christian in Prince George, forward Kayla Gordon could leave Trinity Western as its all-time leading scorer in Canada West regular-season play. (Scott Stewart, Trinity Western athletics)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Kayla Gordon: From a coach’s intuition to her career fruition, TWU’s tiny-school recruit anchors Spartans’ hoop success

LANGLEY — You can’t realize your vision without first trusting your gut, and it was with that in mind that Cheryl Jean-Paul pondered everything about a unique package of talent she had suddenly found herself studying back in the summer of 2012.

A healthy knee and an even healthier outlook have UFV Cascades' senior Shayna Litman poised for a breakthrough season. (Dan Kinvig/UFV Cascades athletics)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Shayna’s shine: Fraser Valley Cascades forward Litman gets her bounce back

ABBOTSFORD — There is an old saying which tells us that success can be measured by the height of one’s bounce after hitting the bottom. By those metrics, it would have been easy to doom Fraser Valley Cascades senior forward Shayna Litman for a university basketball career defined by its mediocrity.