Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
WINNIPEG, Man. – If only they could have a redo on the second quarter.
The MacEwan Griffins women's basketball team was otherwise neck and neck with the Winnipeg Wesmen, but were outscored 18-3 in Q2, leading to a 65-49 loss on Saturday night.
"I actually thought we had three pretty good quarters and one not so good one that sealed our fate," said MacEwan head coach Katherine Adams. "That was the difference in that game."
With the result, the Griffins are now 1-15 on the season, while the Wesmen improve to 5-11.
Anna Kernaghan led Winnipeg with 19 points, while Raia Guinto chipped in 16, and Carmen Hiebert narrowly missed a double double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
MacEwan was led by Noelle Kilbreath, who had 17 points, while rookie Unity Obasuyi scored 13 points, and Makenzie Reeve recorded six points and 10 rebounds.
Overall, Adams really liked the Griffins' game.
"I thought we had a lot of moments, we competed really tough, and I thought we had a lot of different people step up," she said. "Unity came in in the first quarter and scored nine-straight points for us – hit a three and had plays that really got us going. She had a great game. Sarah (Burnell) came in and gave us some really great energy in the second half that got us going then."
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— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) January 28, 2024
Unity Obasuyi works hard for a great three-point play. @MacEwanU and @Wesmenathletics tied 21-21 after 10 minutes.@CanadaWest #GriffNation pic.twitter.com/1kRKfjiB4z
After the game was tied 21-21 to start the second quarter, things went south for MacEwan. A lone three from Kilbreath at the 6:48 mark represented the Griffins' only points of the quarter as Winnipeg closed on a 9-0 run to take control of the contest.
"Winnipeg came out and mixed up their defences and applied a little bit of pressure," said Adams. "We just panicked under it, and we turned the ball over, which led to some easy scores for them. Our shot quality kind of went down because they stared scoring, so we panicked.
"It's just a little bit of maturity in our game, which you expect at times with a young team, so it's a really good learning opportunity. That was kind of the difference.
"We figured it out in the second half, but it was a little bit too late."
The Griffins will be back on the road next weekend when they head to Kelowna, B.C. for matches at UBC Okanagan before finishing the regular season Feb. 9-10 at home vs. Victoria.
