Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – A tough first semester for the Griffins women's basketball team concludes this weekend with a road trip to play one of three winless teams in the conference.
Looking to springboard back into playoff contention, MacEwan (1-7) will visit Kamloops, B.C.-based Thompson Rivers University (0-8) on Friday and Saturday (6:30 p.m. MT, Canada West TV both days).
Things haven't been easy for the Griffins with three of their four weekends so far against teams with a combined record of 18-4 – two of them ranked in the U SPORTS top 10 (No. 4 UFV and No. 5 Winnipeg).
"We've had a pretty tough schedule so far this year playing some of the top teams in the country and I think that level of competition – showing we're able to compete with those top-tier teams – has really prepared us well for this coming weekend," said Griffins head coach Katherine Adams. "We just look to that and the work ethic and level of compete we've had to try and grow on that.
"We know Thompson Rivers is a pretty young team and they're going to be a different team than we saw in preseason, as well, just having some competition under their belt and experience for their younger players."
The Griffins beat the WolfPack handily – 86-61 – when they met in a preseason game in Edmonton back on Oct. 29, so they will head in with confidence that they can replicate that, but the regular season is a different beast.
"We're going into a situation where our opponent is a little more familiar, just having played them earlier in the year, which hasn't been the case with many of our opponents so far this year, so that certainly adds a level of comfort to our preparation for them," said Adams.
The Griffins are coming in off a tough series against Winnipeg where they pushed the nationally ranked Wesmen, losing by 10 and by 15 in the two games.
Many different players found ways to make meaningful contributions in the series, including a breakout performance from rookie Toni Gordon on Saturday, backing up solid individual games on both nights from the team's veterans.
"Each weekend we're trying to build," said Adams. "We've had lots of individuals step up and have their moment. The first eight games so far have provided us really great experience against great competition for some of our younger players to get that experience needed to be able to adjust to the game at this level and make positive contributions, as well as for our vets to get comfortable with one another and step into some new roles.
"It's been really great. Each game you've seen different people step up and have their moment to shine. I'm hoping we can continue that this weekend."
