An ice-cold shooting performance cost the University of the Fraser Valley women's basketball team on Saturday evening in Edmonton, as they dropped a 63-62 decision to the MacEwan Griffins.
The Cascades shot just 29.3 per cent from the field, including 20.7 per cent (6-for-29) from beyond the arc. The Griffins didn't fare much better (32.4 per cent from the field), but they did enough to boost their record to 2-6 in Canada West play while dropping UFV to 3-5.
"For the majority of the game, we did get the shots we wanted to get," Cascades head coach
Al Tuchscherer analyzed. "We did a pretty good job of sharing the ball. But sometimes we over-pass and sometimes we pass up some good looks, and other times we just don't knock them down. The combination of those things is tough to overcome. And then when the game's on the line, we're not great at manufacturing points."
The Cascades started reasonably well – they led 16-15 at the end of the first quarter, then opened the second on an 11-3 run capped by a
Taylor Claggett jump shot to seize a 27-18 lead.
The Griffins, though, responded with a 9-0 run of their own midway through the frame, and the Cascades required a triple from
Abby Zawada to maintain a 33-32 lead at halftime.
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MacEwan carried that momentum into the third quarter, surging ahead by as many as seven points, but the Cascades reeled them in. Zawada twice knocked down three-pointers with less than five minutes left in regulation, giving UFV a two-point advantage each time, but the Griffins responded with treys of their own from Mady Chamberlain and Hannah Gibb to snatch the lead right back.
Claggett made a basket, plus the foul, with 1:20 left in regulation to knot the score 59-59, but the Griffins drew fouls on their next two possessions and hit 3-of-4 free throws. Zawada had a shot from beyond the arc to tie it with 11 seconds left, but it rimmed out.
"It's a lot of pressure to put onto first-year kid," Tuchscherer said, alluding to Zawada's game-tying attempt out of a timeout. "It's her fifth or sixth game that she's played and we're asking her to do a lot already.
"We drew up a play for her there and it broke down a little bit, but she had the presence of mind to still get a shot off. It just about went in, but it is what it is."
MacEwan's Kayla Ivicak secured the rebound and was fouled, going 1-for-2 from the line. UFV's
Kate Head hit a triple to beat the fourth-quarter buzzer, but it merely shrank the Griffins' final margin from four points to one.
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Claggett and Zawada were the only Cascades who were able to get much going offensively on this night. Claggett scored 23 points on 8-of-12 from the field, to go with nine rebounds, four assists and three steals. Rookie guard Zawada, meanwhile, accounted for five of UFV's six treys on the night on her way to 17 points.
Ivicak paced the Griffins with 19 points and 13 boards, and Gibb scored 12.
The Cascades basketball teams are back in action at home next weekend, hosting the UNBC Timberwolves in a Friday-Saturday set at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.
- with files from Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
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