Sandman Player of the Month: Obasuyi's impressive production earns her November honours

Sandman Player of the Month: Obasuyi's impressive production earns her November honours

MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – After averaging 18.0 points/game during the month of November – including recording two huge double doubles for the Griffins women's basketball team – Unity Obasuyi has been named the Sandman Signature Downtown Edmonton Hotel Player of the Month.

As the Griffins' top student-athlete in November, Obasuyi wins a free night's stay at the Sandman Signature Downtown Edmonton Hotel.

Obasuyi scored 126 of the Griffins' 362 points in the month, which is 34.8% of their total offensive production.

"Phenomenal," said Griffins head coach Katherine Adams of Obasuyi's November. "It was a learning curve for her because the way she's scoring and producing at the offensive end, teams are keying on her, and she's seen a number of different tactics to try and limit her opportunity. There's ebbs and flows with that, but her ability to find ways to produce night in and night out has been very impressive."

Her signature performance was the Nov. 14-15 weekend at Mount Royal when she recorded 52 points, 21 rebounds, 4 steals and an assist. Included in a 30-point effort on the Friday was going 7-for-10 from the three-point line, which is the second best single game mark in the program's Canada West history.

The back-to-back double double performances earned her the Canada West women's basketball player of the week.

"I think for her she was just playing with a lot of confidence and a lot of freedom," said Adams. "She knew things were feeling good and shots were dropping. We, as a team, I think were flowing really well and finding ways to get her the ball in moments when she could do what she does best. 

"I think the confidence and freedom she was playing with that weekend stands out. It shows in the way she contributed, not only at the offensive end, but in her two double doubles, as well."

For the season, Obasuyi is third in Canada West in points/game (17.4) and is third on the Griffins in rebounds/game (4.1) and steals/game (1.3).

"I expect to see a lot of the same," said Adams of the rest of the season moving forward. "Teams are obviously going to key on her as our leading scorer and one of the top scorers in Canada West this year so far. I think her just continuing to evolve and finding ways to score in different ways – just get to the rim more and the free throw line will be something she'll be looking to do a little bit more of as teams key in on her."

The Griffins are on semester break but will play one non-conference game before returning to the second half of the regular season. They'll host Thompson Rivers in an exhibition match on Jan. 2 (5 p.m., David Atkinson Gym).

Their regular season slate resumes on Jan. 9-10 at Lethbridge.

Next home action for the Griffins is Jan. 16-17 vs. Calgary.

"For us, we played the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country in the first semester," said Adams of facing Saskatchewan and Alberta. "We have the No. 4 (Calgary) and No. 7 (Regina) teams coming in in the second half. So, some tough opponents, but we're excited to keep going and keep building momentum."