The university women's basketball version of the Battle of the Valley went Trinity Western University's way Saturday night in Abbotsford.

Led by Laurelle Weigl's 18 points and 10 rebounds and Emily Knauff's 16 points and six rebounds, the TWU Spartans defeated the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades 71-59 at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre.

"UFV is a great team and they have been getting big wins against great teams, so this win is huge for us," TWU head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul said, following the victory. "Our focus on defence is our strength and we were prepared to play today. I've been hoping for this game for a long time as a head coach. We've been waiting and fighting towards finding the balance between our guards and posts. This game showed teams that they have to stop how we play rather than just individual athletes."

The win puts the 8-7 Spartans to within two games of the second place 10-5 Cascades in the west division of Canada West.

TWU has now won four of its past five games, while this loss is UFV's second in three games after a five-game winning streak.

Also having strong games for TWU were Tiffany Olsen with 11 points, six rebounds and three steals and Stephanie Carkner with three points, three rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

The Cascades led 35-33 at the end of the opening half.

In the third quarter, TWU's defence started to influence the game. The Spartans would finish the quarter with an 18-8 run to take a seven-point lead, 53-46 into the final quarter.

The Spartans continued their solid all-around play and after a Tiffany Olsen driving lay-up with four minutes remaining TWU had a 10-point, 62-52 lead. But back-to-back baskets from UFV's Sarah Wierks and Aieisha Luyken had cut the TWU lead to five points, 62-57.

Holley Strom responded with an inside lay-up with two minutes remaining to give TWU the nine-point, 66-57 advantage.

Fraser Valley pushed to close the gap, but the Spartans' defence stayed strong and their offence continued to click as TWU finished with a tidy 11-point win.

"It has been a work in progress and if you look at the fourth quarters we have been in, we have worked hard to defend in the fourth quarter," Jean-Paul noted. "We have slowly but surely [been] getting better, we just needed a breakthrough game and tonight was that game."

Next up for the Spartans is a three-game homestand to finish the CW conference season.

TWU will host Thompson Rivers this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 3-4) before finishing the season with a rematch with the Cascades next Thursday, Feb. 9.

Opening tip-off between TWU and Thompson Rivers is 6 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday.