What a difference a year makes.

The Trinity Western University women's basketball team, which finished 3-21 in conference play in 2010/11, has already won a tournament this season.

In the fifth game on the third and final day of the University of Manitoba Women's Basketball Invitational "Shoot for the Cure" Tournament, the Spartans upset the Winnipeg Wesmen by a 74-61 score on Sunday.

In the upset victory, the Spartans have shown they are ready to improve on last season's conference mark as they defeated a Winnipeg team that finished in second place in Canada West regular season standings with a 20-4 record and made it to the CIS East Regionals.

TWU head coach and former Bison player Cheryl Jean-Paul, talked about the tourney: "The word of the weekend was control and understanding our talent and how to control the game.

We showed lots of composure and made lots of good shot decisions."

On Friday, Trinity Western beat Manitoba 66-58 and Saturday, the Spartans downed Lakehead 72-57 to earn a spot in the final.

Tournament MVP was Laurelle Weigl as she finished with 13 points on five-for-10 shooting and three rebounds, with two assists in 32 minutes in Sunday's win.

Overall, the Simon Fraser University transfer had 42 points, 25 boards, 10 assists, five steals and four blocks during her team's championship run.

TWU forward Emily Knauff earned a tournament all-star nod.

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