When the final buzzer sounded it was anything but a run of the mill victory for Kayla Gordon and the Trinity Western Spartans women’s basketball team.
The fifth-year player and local product from Cedars Christian become the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,126 career points following an 80-49 victory over the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack last Friday.
WBB | And just like that, @kayla5gordon is the @twuspartanwbb team’s all-time career leader in points (1,114 and counting), passing @TrinityWestern alum Holly Strom! #WeAreAllSpartans pic.twitter.com/Sud1bmtMh1
— TWU Spartans (@TWUSpartans) January 27, 2018
Gordon says it’s extra-special based on where the accomplishment fell on the calendar.
“For me, to get to be a part of that in my last season and have it coincide with my last regular-season home game and having my family come down and some other friends, former teammates it was actually a pretty special moment.”
She surpassed mentor and former Spartan teammate Holly Strom who previously held the record with a mark of 1,112 points, and has been in constant contact with her former teammate.
“I got to play with her (Strom) for one year and she actually became a mentor of mine and we’ve kept in touch over the years so I think it’s been pretty special to have so many people be excited for me but I definitely can’t say it was all of what I did.”
Admittedly, Gordon was never really told about how close she was to the scoring record.
“I actually only found out about it in December when an article had come out saying that I had broken the thousand point mark. I think I was the third Spartan in our program’s history to do that, I knew that I had done that but I actually wasn’t really following how far off I was as I was trying to go into each game with the same mindset to make playoffs.”
Trinity Western is currently 14-4 on the season and is in the top four of the Canada West standings as they face the MacEwan Griffins on the road in Edmonton tonight and Saturday.
“We wanted to go 16-4 this season and that win where I broke the record is one game closer to reaching that goal and we were just trying to be undefeated at home so it was just another win on our home court and it was really exciting to get one step closer to the things we had set out to at the beginning of the season, it’s been exciting.”
Being one of two PG-born players on the Spartans roster, with the other including fellow Cedars Christian grad Jenna Van Delft, the game is slowly picking up steam in the north and Gordon believes the results will come regardless of geography.
“I never wanted to make any excuses on where I was from or that I went to Cedars Christian and I think whatever you do if you just work at it wholeheartedly and are just willing to learn and to give it your all I think you can achieve great things.”
“For me, coming from the north has been exciting and I am just so grateful for all the coaches I had in Prince George and were a huge part of my skill development and making me into the player I am today , it is exciting to see how far basketball has come in the city and to see younger players getting involved because when I played we had to come down to the Lower Mainland to play on some club teams, so it’s exciting to see basketball picking up for sure.”
Gordon’s numbers speak for themselves as she has started 75 out of 77 regular season games during her time with Trinity Western, averaging 29 minutes per game and 13 points per contest.
The Canada West basketball playoffs begin on February 9th and final seeding should be determined by this weekend.
Regardless, of how the Spartans season ends, it’s pretty safe to say Gordon and her teammates will leave it all on the court.
