Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Danielle Fritzke heated up from behind the arc in the third quarter as the Lethbridge Pronghorns found a way through MacEwan's tough defensive shell en route to a 69-53 win, spoiling the Griffins' Canada West women's basketball home opener on Friday night.
Fritzke, a fourth-year wing from Medicine Hat, went 6-for-10 from the three-point line to pace the Pronghorns (3-0) with a game-high 18 points.
"It's a real credit to Danielle because she has worked tirelessly on her game," said Pronghorns head coach Dave Adams. "This program put in about 10,000 jumpers over the summer because we knew we needed to get better. I have to put Dani right at the very front of that. When she has success from that, I'm really, really pleased for her as a person and as a player."
MacEwan had held the Pronghorns in check throughout the first half and headed into the break with a 29-27 lead. But they were unable to keep up with Lethbridge's third-quarter adjustments.
"They did a really good job of moving the ball and finding shooters," said MacEwan head coach Katherine Adams. "Fritzke scored 18 points herself from the three-point line. We just didn't adjust quick enough to stay a step closer, run at her, force her to put it on the floor. That's on us to be able to adjust a little bit quicker.
"With that, they got momentum and we had a difficult time playing at a pace to generate enough scores. We had a difficult time scoring and I think we got frustrated that we got in the paint and couldn't finish."
Fourth-year guard Kayla Ivicak, however, had a big game individually for the Griffins (0-3) in a losing effort, posting her second-straight double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. She also added a game-high four steals.
"Kayla is so crucial to everything we do," said Katherine Adams. "She brings so much energy. She's a player that you know what you're going to get from her every single night. She's capable of that every night. It's good for us, but we shouldn't have to rely on that. We've got to find ways for other people to step up to help her out."
Fifth-year forward Kerilynn MacLennan almost had a double-double herself with 10 rebounds and eight points, while Paige Knull had 10 points for the Griffins.
Lethbridge also got 14 points from Kacie Bosch, while Katie Keith had 11 rebounds and seven points.
For much of the early part of the game, the Pronghorns were unable to separate themselves from the Griffins, who brought intensity to the court, especially in their half-court defence.
"I've got to give full credit to MacEwan," said Dave Adams, who made some key half-time adjustments. "Katherine had an outstanding game plan. They executed their game plan perfectly and the piece that we wanted to do a bit differently was look to attack in the middle of the floor in a different way than we did in the first half. As a result of that, our shooters found some opportunities that weren't there previously.
"Basketball's such a funny sport because it's always going to be a game of inches and a game of adjustments. I just thought that we were fortunate in that second half to find some hot shooting."
The Griffins have some building blocks heading into Saturday's rematch (1 p.m., Atkinson Gym) looking for their first win of the Canada West campaign.
"We definitely had some good possessions," said Katherine Adams. "We definitely defended tough. For a team last weekend that averaged 85.5 points in two games, we definitely did a better job at the defensive end. I think we can take some pride in that.
"The third quarter just got away from us and (we need) to find a way to generate more scores out of our defence."
