The MacEwan Griffins handed the University of the Fraser Valley women’s basketball team its most decisive defeat of the season, winning 90-59 in Edmonton on Friday evening.
Cascades centre Sarah Wierks continued her red-hot play with 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field, 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocks. But UFV wasn’t able to generate much secondary scoring – Nataliia Gavryliuk (12 points on 5-of-17 shooting from the field) and Celeste Dyck (10 points) were the only other Cascades to score in double digits.
The Griffins, meanwhile, shot the ball exceedingly well from beyond the arc, knocking down 10 of 18 three-point attempts (55.6 per cent). They also won the rebounding battle (43-28, including 20 offensive boards) and turned the ball over just 15 times compared to 23 for UFV.
The Griffins’ Kendall Lydon scored nine of her team-high 20 points in the first quarter, while Kari Kubinec scored 18.
MacEwan improved to 9-2, good for second place in the Explorers Division, while the third-place Cascades fell to 6-5.
“Full credit to MacEwan – they’re a team we can learn a lot from in how they compete,” UFV head coach Al Tuchscherer said. “They competed for 40 minutes, from minute one to minute 40. It was impressive. And we don’t do that.
“We need more players to learn from games like this and just do what it takes to compete at a higher level.”
Lydon spurred a 15-5 start for the Griffins, who led 25-13 after the first quarter. The hosts opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run to push the lead to 21, but the Cascades battled back to cut it to 44-30 at halftime.
But the Griffins began the third quarter with a 12-2 spurt, and the Cascades were unable to mount a comeback.
The Cascades welcomed back third-year forward Katie Brink after a four-game injury absence, and she posted five points and four rebounds in 30 minutes of action.
The two teams meet again on Saturday at 4 p.m. Pacific time.
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