Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
-With files from MRU Athletics
CALGARY – Short-handed due to an illness that has run through a good portion of their roster, the MacEwan Griffins women's basketball team fell 69-61 to the Mount Royal University Cougars on Friday night.
With just eight players dressed, the Griffins went toe-to-toe with the Cougars for most of the game before coming out on the wrong end of the score late in the fourth quarter.
"We were down a couple of possessions in the last minute and a half, so we had to scramble and try to find our way back into it," said MacEwan head coach Katherine Adams. "We ended up fouling."
For much of the week, Adams noted they only had seven healthy players at practice. They had eight on Friday, so some players logged big minutes, led by Mackenzie Farmer's 37.5, while both Noelle Kilbreath and Mikah Reed were over 35 minutes.
"We were a little short staffed," said Adams. "Given that scenario, I was really proud of our effort. We had some players play some big minutes and really empty the tank and give us everything they could after what's been a bit of an unconventional week for us in preparation for this weekend."
Both Makenzie Reeve and Kilbreath paced the Griffins with 14 points apiece, while Hayley Lalor had 10 points and eight rebounds.
MacEwan held a 29-22 lead at the half and the game was tied 46-46 after three quarters as the teams traded leads 10 times in the contest. But the Griffins couldn't get key stops when they needed them in the fourth quarter and they struggled with offensive decision-making.
It's easy to see what they need to improve to have success in Saturday's rematch (5 p.m., Canada West TV).
"Being a little bit more disciplined in our offensive decision making and shot selection and execution at that end of the floor," said Adams. "That was one side of it. The other side, we needed to get a stop and we struggled to get it done down the stretch when we needed to."
"I think just our defensive discipline (needs to improve," she added. "We gave up 22 points in the first half, which is a tremendous defensive effort. Offence wasn't really flowing for us, but our defence kept us in there. In the second half, we gave up 47 points."
With the result, the Griffins fall to 0-3 and MRU improves to 1-2.
