A poor first quarter 鈥� they were outscored 22-3 鈥� was too much to overcome for the .

The Spartans dropped a 71-59 decision to the visiting on Saturday at the e.

The loss came on the heels of a big 79-51 win the night before over the . The mixed results give Trinity Western a 4-6 record in .

鈥淪ometimes it feels like you almost over prepare for a team and you know what they鈥檙e going to do so much that you freeze in the moment and I think that鈥檚 what happened,鈥� said Spartans coach Cheryl Jean-Paul.

鈥淭here was a physicality to the game that we knew and we didn鈥檛 respond to that. We were hoping to get calls that we didn鈥檛. You go down 22-3 in a quarter and you鈥檙e going to have to do some amazing things in the next few quarters to win.

鈥淲e knew the first quarter was going to have a crazy tempo and we ended up just being passengers. We had scoring opportunities in that quarter, but we just didn鈥檛 finish.

鈥淗owever to win the second half and to win both quarters, those are things we have to be able to take positives from.鈥�

Trinity Western was led by Sarah Cleveland, who had a career-high 18 points, Holly Strom, who had 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Emily Knauff, who had 11 points and six boards.

The game against Lethbridge saw the Spartans dominate the first half, leading 45-14 at the break.

鈥淥ur defensive intensity was great in the first half. It鈥檚 nice to actually talk about something and emphasize something and really see it happen," Jean-Paul said.

Strom led the way with 19 points and 13 rebounds while Cleveland had 16 and Tiffany Olsen chipped in with 13 points.

The Spartans are in Kelowna this weekend for a pair of games against the UBC Okanagan Heat (2-6).