Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – A tough third quarter proved to be the undoing for the MacEwan Griffins women's basketball team in a season-opening 83-60 loss to the Mount Royal University Cougars on Friday night.
Outscored 33-9 in the 10 minutes of play after coming out of the half, the Griffins were left to build for the rematch (Saturday, 4 p.m., Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
"In the third quarter, they came out and were more physical than us," said Griffins head coach Katherine Adams. "We just weren't prepared to play that way.
"We struggled staying poised under their pressure and turned the ball over 33 times, which ultimately was the difference in the game."
Four Griffins hit double digits in points as Shannon Majeau had 13, Mackenzie Farmer and Noelle Kilbreath bucketed 12 each and Darian Mahmi chipped in 10.
Jenika Martens led the Cougars with a game-high 23 points, while Bella Gaulden scored 17, including knocking down 3-of-5 treys.
Adams liked how the Griffins weathered a strong start from the Cougars and they trailed just 38-34 at the half.
"We came out and knew it was their home opener and they were going to go on a run, which they did to start the game," she said. "I thought we responded really well and came back to make it a game at half-time."
Now, it's just to keep the wheels rolling for the full game.
"The good thing is all the things we're talking about are things under our control that we can be better at, things that we can look at (approaching) differently, or watching some film to see where the opportunities are against that pressure," said Adams. "It's exciting because we have another opportunity to come out and be better than we were today."