Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The signs are encouraging for a Griffins women's basketball team that's growing up before head coach Katherine Adams' very eyes.
Mackenzie Farmer and Shannon Majeau are embracing marquee roles in the post-Kayla Ivicak era, while secondary scoring and contributions are coming from across the board, as evidenced in a season-opening split against Mount Royal University last weekend.
That said, the Griffins are still very much in the growing pains stage – a process which will continue on the road this weekend as they visit the Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday (5 p.m. MT) and Saturday (4 p.m. MT, both on Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
"We're not young anymore, but we're not old," explained Adams. "We're still kind of finding ourselves. We saw glimpses last weekend of what we want to be. Consistency was something that we struggled with across the course of 80 minutes.
"There was lots we can build on that shows we're capable. Now we've just got to put in that consistent effort, so that we can hopefully see results over a longer period of time."
Farmer had a monster opening weekend with 33 points, 12 rebounds, 14 steals and four blocks combined in the two games against MRU, while Majeau had career-high scoring efforts of 16 and 18 points on Friday-Saturday, respectively.
"It's great to see," said Adams. "Our athletes know they're stepping into new roles and their expectations are a bit higher. We need more from them if our team is going to be successful. They've really stepped up to the challenge and I think we've seen that in increased production across all stat lines, from Mackenzie, Shannon, Mady (Chamberlin) and Darian (Mahmi) – they've all stepping up in scoring, rebounding.
"Mac last weekend, with her 14 steals across two games is huge. Those ones stand out just because the numbers are easy to see, but there are other people stepping up and filling new roles. They're trying to find their place and niche where they fit in in this new era of Griffins basketball."
The learning process will continue this weekend as the Griffins face the defending Canada West champion Huskies, who are currently ranked fourth in the country.
"It's a great challenge for us and a great test, for sure," said Adams. "It's important we keep the focus on us. This isn't about Saskatchewan. Yes, they're a great team. Yes, historically they've been very strong and have proven to be one of the top teams in the country. But it's not about Saskatchewan, it's about MacEwan and what we're doing.
"We're lucky we have the opportunity to test ourselves against some of the best athletes and some of the best teams in the country."