Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Although they led the entire match, try as they might, the UBC Thunderbirds never could pull away from the feisty MacEwan Griffins in Canada West women's basketball action on Friday night at the David Atkinson Gym.
On the flip side, the Griffins never could fully erase an early deficit as multiple rally attempts fell short amid a wash of turnovers, and the T-Birds escaped with an 83-69 victory.
"At times, I think we created some offence from our defence off individual efforts, shooting gaps and getting steals," said UBC head coach Deb Huband, whose team forced the Griffins into 27 turnovers. "On the other hand, we had some trouble guarding at times where we gave up a lot of threes and drives to the hoop particularly.
"I think it was an interesting game. We'd sort of surge and they'd surge back, and it just kept going like that through four quarters."
With the result, UBC improves to 13-4, while MacEwan falls to 2-13.
Despite the loss, there were plenty of positives for the Griffins, including shooting 49.1 per cent from the field – well over their season average – and canning eight three-pointers.
"It's actually been a big emphasis for us this week in shot selection and working to create better shots," said head coach Katherine Adams. "A three's a three, but how you get there … certainly makes a difference. It's been a big point of emphasis for us this week in practice. We showed today that finally … finally we're knocking some shots down."
And they had a balanced scoring effort, which gave UBC some trouble. Shannon Majeau led the Griffins with 14, Darian Mahmi had 12, Mackenzie Farmer 11 and Hayley Lalor chipped in 10 off the bench.
"I thought we had a lot of different people step up and find moments to contribute," said Adams. I think everybody played their part today in a great team effort against a really tough team."
Keylyn Filewich led UBC with her 11th double double of the season, scoring 19 points and adding 10 rebounds as the 6-foot-1 post hit her season averages despite the Griffins attempting double (and sometimes triple) blocks on her in the paint.
"She's been a consistent player for us since her second or third year," said Huband. "We rely on her for her presence inside. We have some other kids who play inside, too, and complement Keylyn. We had a nice complementary inside-outside game."
Guard Jessica Hanson added 18 points for UBC, while guard Kate Johnson added 14 with a game-high seven assists.
A true difference in the game saw the Thunderbirds outscore the Griffins 19-6 on fast-break points, capitalizing on some untimely mental lapses and poor passing from the home side.
"Defensively, you always want to make your opponent earn their points," said Adams. "When you give it away for them to score layups, they've worked hard at the defensive end, but they haven't really earned it at the offensive end.
"That's tough and it's an area of growth for us that we're continuing to work on."
The teams will meet again in the rematch on Saturday (5 p.m., David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
