Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – Unity Obasuyi accounted for 59 per cent of the Griffins' offence on Saturday and MacEwan's defence a strong showing as they made improvements from a night earlier in a 66-39 loss to the UFV Cascades.

Still short-handed due to cruel wave of injuries and illnesses, the Griffins went into the match again with only eight players, not one of them designed perfectly to counter-act the Cascades size in the paint. 

The adjustments they made, though, forced UFV to resort to Plan B to beat them.

"I'm really proud of the effort the girls put forth today," said Adams. "I thought we responded really well after a tough game yesterday. They gave everything they had. Being undersized and a little bit overmatched inside, you kind of have to pick your poison and choose a way you want to get beat. 

"Give Fraser Valley credit. They came out and people hit some shots. They were 11-for 34 from the three-point line. We kind of said 'if you're going to beat us, that's where you're going to beat us from.' They did a really good job of finding people and had a lot of people hit shots for them from there."

With the result, the Griffins drop to 0-14, while UFV improves to 11-5.

Obasuyi led the Griffins with a game-high 23 points as she rebounded from being held to seven a night earlier.

"After a performance last night where she would have liked to have seen a few more shots go down, she certainly came back today and showed why she's such a dominant scorer and has the ability to put the ball in the hoop," said Adams. "A really, really good performance from her. 

"No one else was double digits or had high numbers, but I thought it was just a really good team effort of us trying to move the ball and create some scoring opportunities. Unity seemed to capitalize on a lot of those."

UFV also only had one player in double digits as reigning Canada West first team all-star Maddy Gobeil posted a double double with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

The Griffins held the rest of the Cascades in check, though, in one of their better defensive efforts of the season. 

"We only gave up 66 points, which I think is pretty good," said Adams. "We only had 18 turnovers, which might be a season low for us. So, we have a lot of good things to build on. 

"Where the score might not be indicative of the play, I think it was a very good effort for our group today, all things considered."

The Griffins return home to host Saskatchewan next weekend.