PORTLAND, OR ---

Simon Fraser celebrated a 56- 45 score against Concordia University in their first game of 2020. Simon Fraser's game was no easy feat, down by six at half time. Their hard work on the court produced an impressive 11-point advantage over Concordia by the game's end.

Simon Fraser entered the court strong putting the first three points on the board. Concordia gained momentum toward the end of the first quarter ending with a four-point lead at 14 – 10. Concordia kept their lead in the second quarter with a six-point lead.

Simon Fraser gave few opportunities to Concordia pushing to catch up to their score in the third quarter. Coming up short by one point, Simon Fraser was in a good position to challenge Concordia for a win on their home court in the final quarter.

The team put together an impressive result in their final quarter finishing 56 – 45. Jessica Jones and Tayler Drynan both scored three-pointers in the final 10-minute of the game. Concordia, struggling to respond, fouled Simon Fraser seven times in the quarter providing Simon Fraser opportunities to surpass Concordia the free throw line. Tayler Drynan put six points on the board from her free throw shots during the quarter.

Concordia let their accuracy slip in the second half as they fell from a 37.50% to 8.33% in converting three-point shots. Simon Fraser produced the opposite result increasing their three-point shot accuracy from 15.38% to 33.3%.

Junior player Jessica Jones was a game leader for Simon Fraser contributing a total of 13 points to the board. Senior Tayler Drynan had an outstanding performance as well, contributing 12 points, seven of which from accurate free throws.

Head Coach Bruce Langford added his thoughts: "Thought we over thought and over passed in the first half. We still got chances but shot poorly.  Defensively we were good though. In the second half, we gave up some quick points to go down and changed players to press and change tempo.  We got some momentum and started to hit shots. As we move forward, we need to be better from the free throw line and we need to stick to fundamentals in our offense."

Up Next, Simon Fraser will play Western Oregon University in Monmouth Oregon, January 4 at 2:00 pm.