Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Hannah Gibb travelled some 500 kilometres north from Lethbridge for her first year at MacEwan University this fall.
She doesn't have to wait long for a taste of home.
The rookie point guard will help lead the Griffins women's basketball team into their home-opening weekend against the visiting University of Lethbridge Pronghorns (Friday, 6 p.m.; Saturday, 1 p.m., both in Atkinson Gym – which will formally named after former MacEwan president David Atkinson in a ceremony between the women's and men's games on Saturday).
Gibb will be going against her second cousin Amy Mazutinec and her longtime high school teammate Jessica Zarowny, both freshmen on the Pronghorns this season. To top it off, one of her three older brothers, Colton Gibb, plays for the Pronghorns men's basketball team.
"I'm pretty excited," she said. "Growing up in Lethbridge it will be nice to play them and be able to watch him play and see how he does. I hope he does well, but I hope MacEwan does, too."
Hannah Gibb has quickly fit in with a Griffins team that thrives on intense defensive pressure, which is precisely the strength of her game.
"I've always known her as just a tough, feisty point guard," said MacEwan head coach Katherine Adams, who has coached against Gibb and her former club team, the Junior 'Horns. "You look at her and you think 'she's not that big' but what she lacks in size she makes up for in grit and heart and fight. That's what I really love about her because I thought her style of play fits in well with our style of play here at MacEwan."
With the graduation of Canada West third-team all-star Kendall Lydon, the Griffins are rolling with third-year Kristen Monfort-Palomino and two rookies, Gibb and Madison Chamberlin at the point guard position.
"It's definitely by committee," said Adams of trying to replace the contributions of MacEwan's all-time career assists leader Lydon. "I think all of our point guards bring something a little different. It's good because that's tough for teams to play against."
So far, Gibb had a multi-category effort in her Canada West debut, a season-opening loss at Thompson Rivers, recording three points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal in 13 minutes of action. A night later, as the Griffins improved their play to only lose 65-61 to TRU, Gibb bucketed nine points on 3/6 three-point shooting.
"So far this year for us, she's played tough," said Adams. "It's not an easy task coming in as a first-year point guard, being able to handle the pressure, get your team sorted, be that floor general. She's done admirably with that so far.
"One of the things I love about her most is her work ethic. She's a kid you see in the gym every single day. She's in the gym right now shooting," Adams added. "She's dedicated to improving her game and she wants to be great."
The Griffins (0-2) are also a work in progress. Although they lost their opening two matches in Kamloops, the squad improved their effort big time from Friday to Saturday and have some momentum heading into a pair of games against Lethbridge (2-0).
"It was a really good learning weekend for us," said Adams. "I don't think we put our best foot forward on the Friday night. It wasn't the team I've seen so far perform in preseason. We took a good long look in the mirror as much as you can after one game and said 'OK, we need to be better and commit to our style of play.' I think you saw that on Saturday night just in our toughness and grit. We were able to get some stops on D that really helped generate things at the offensive end for us. That's the style of play we need to play to be successful.
"Even though things didn't go the way we wanted on the scoreboard, it's definitely building momentum into this weekend at home."
