Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Emotions always run high on Senior Night, and it was no different on Saturday as Griffins women's basketball head coach Katherine Adams gave the final two players of her first-ever recruiting class at MacEwan a pre-game send-off.
Mackenzie Farmer and Shannon Majeau played the final game of their illustrious six-year careers.
Although the result isn't what they wanted – a 72-51 loss to Regina – the farewell felt like a going away party amongst friends and family anyway.
"Senior Night's always an emotional night, especially when you have two players – Mac and Shannon – who have been here for six years and really been such an integral part of our program from Day 1," said Adams. "You're so grateful for the time you've had and everything they've done. It's always hard to say goodbye and move onto the next chapter of their lives. You wish them the best and want to really celebrate them as much as possible.
"On a day like today, especially when we know that we're not fighting for a playoff spot, our season's coming to an end, it's one real positive we can focus our energy on."
MacEwan finishes the 2022-23 campaign with a 2-18 record (good for 15th place), while Regina concludes with a 17-3 mark, tied for first in Canada West, but they will finish second to Saskatchewan (17-3) on RPI.
Jade Belmore led the Cougars on Saturday with 15 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, while Maddy Seida chipped 15 points and eight boards. Julia Vydrova had 12 points and eight rebounds, while Zoe Hartmann chipped in 11.
W��| FINAL
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) February 12, 2023
Shannon Majeau gets the put-back off Toki Tsuzuki's fourth-quarter attempt for the final basket of her @CanadaWest career.@MacEwanU will fall 72-51 to @ReginaCougarWBB in their season finale. Stay tuned for a recap.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/QWxKmug47N
Fittingly, MacEwan was led by graduating senior Majeau who impressively nearly netted a double double in her last game with 13 points and eight rebounds.
"That rounds out a pretty nice weekend for her," said Adams. "Yesterday I thought she was outstanding and again today, she was great inside. Just steady, consistent. With Shannon you know what you're going to get from her night in and night out, so I'm not surprised that she delivered again today."
Rookie Toki Tsuzuki matched a career-high with 12 points, adding seven boards, four assists and three steals. Farmer chipped in nine points and six rebounds.
"That's a great stat line for a first-year point guard playing 35 minutes," said Adams of Tsuzuki. "That experience for her is going to be invaluable."
W��| Q1
— MacEwan Griffins (@MacEwanGriffins) February 12, 2023
Toki Tsuzuki cuts into an early deficit with a great floater as @MacEwanU trails @ReginaCougarWBB 27-12 after 10 minutes of @CanadaWest action.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/QuaavkvxKo
And that's the ultimate takeaway from a season of adversity for the Griffins, who played with just seven healthy players in both weekend games against Regina, after playing with only eight in their previous four games due to a devastating spate of late season injuries.
"We came into this season with a lot of hope and optimism just building off of the year we had last year," said Adams. "It felt like we were just faced with one obstacle after another and (they were) things that were largely out of our control, which is unfortunate. But that's also sport and that's also life. You have to play the hand that you're dealt.
"I'm incredibly proud of the way our girls responded. Not one day was there a 'woe is me.' It was 'OK, what's next. How do we approach this week in order to prepare ourselves to compete?'
"What it did do is give an opportunity to some of our young players to step up and get some experience," she added. "I think night in and night out, we saw different people step up and do that."
Mackenzie Farmer had nine points to run her career total to 1,146, third all-time in program history across all eras (Eduardo Perez photo).
It also led to a few rookie single season records falling. Tsuzuki tied Kayla Ivicak's rookie mark for assists (36) that she set in 2014-15.
Rookie Toni Gordon, who didn't play against Regina, broke Ivicak's minutes/game rookie record of 20.6 in 2014-15) by averaging 23.0.
Gordon also broke Ivicak's rookie rebounding record (88 in 2014-15) with 113 this season and tied her rookie double double mark of one.
And finally, Gordon also broke Hallie Watt's rookie single season blocks record (9 in 2017-18) with 13 this season.
Other single season program records that fell at the end of the night included Farmer breaking her own mark of 33.5 minutes/game (set last season) by finishing with a 34.5 average in 2022-23.
As well, Farmer also broke the program record for the most free throws in a season, her 101/115 topping the 80/107 mark that Paige Knull had in 2017-18.
Of course, the night wouldn't be complete without updating Farmer's final career points total as the program's Canada West points leader finishes with 1,146, which is third all-time in any era behind only Megan Wood (1,504 from 2012-16) and Michelle Mackinnon (1,267 from 1996-00).
