Jason Hills 
For MacEwan Athletics 
 
EDMONTON – The MacEwan Griffins put forth another scrappy effort. but when they needed their offence to kick it into gear, it was stuck in neutral a little too often against the Manitoba Bisons. 

Trailing 35-30 at the half, the Griffins women's basketball team scored just 18 second half points, as they fell 67-48 to the Bisons on Friday night at the David Atkinson gym. 

Unity Obasuyi led MacEwan with 20 points and five rebounds, while Toni Gordon recorded an efficient double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds in the loss for the Griffins, who shot just 25.8 per cent from the field, including just 2-for-24 from beyond the arc. 

Emily Mandamin and Darya Rom each led Manitoba with 17 points each, while Mandamin and Rom combined for six-of-11 from deep in the victory as the Bisons improved to 7-10 this season. 

"It's tough when you don't make shots," said Griffins' head coach Katherine Adams. 

"I thought we generated some good scoring opportunities. We got to the rim, I thought we just didn't convert when we created those opportunities for ourselves. 

"We missed too many layups, and that created too many chances the other way at the offensive end." 

MacEwan had a strong opening quarter, shutting down the Bisons early, and offensively they were able to get to the rim and score, and they led 19-15 over Manitoba. 

They continued to push the pace in the second quarter and led 28-22 at the midway mark of the frame, but the Bisons started to find their groove offensively and they capitalized on some turnovers and unforced mistakes to take a 35-30 lead at the half. 

Unity Obasuyi drops two of her eight points in the first half as the @MacEwanGriffins hang right with the visiting @umbisons, trailing 35-30 after 20 minutes.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/DCBvJsuFFj

— MacEwan Griffins Women's Basketball Team (@Griffins_WBB) February 8, 2025

"They did a great job capitalizing on our lapses defensively and hit some shots when they needed to widen that gap, and I thought we had opportunities to keep the score close and stick within that margin, but we just didn't capitalize," said Adams. 

Adams said in the first half, the Griffins were having a lot of success getting to the rim and creating strong offensive looks, but then got away from it, and started trying to hit shots from beyond the arc – and their shots from distance just weren't falling. 

They were just 1-for-17 in the first half from long-range. 

"We got a little trigger happy in the first half shooting threes, and that's what good defensive teams do. They recognized it's not our strength, and they wanted to see if we'd continue to shoot those shots and we did," said Adams. 
"When we had some success getting to the rim in the first half, ultimately when we had the lead, it let us down, and that took away momentum going into the second half." 

Adams liked the effort she saw from Gordon at both ends of the floor. The veteran forward was strong at both ends of the court, providing the Griffins with all kinds of energy. 

"She was a real spark plug, especially in the first half getting downhill, and getting to the rim, which is great. We need that energy from her, because that's what makes her so dangerous," said Adams. 

Manitoba kicked it up a notch in the second half, and MacEwan'soffence went cold. When they did have open looks or a layup – they came up empty. 

A missed layup or an open shot under the rim happens in a game, but the Griffins had too many missed opportunities that cost them. 

"If we get half those (shots) back, and make a few more shots, we're probably talking about a different ending to this game," said Adams. 

"We're getting those opportunities, and now we just have to take the next step in how we convert them, and how we make sure when we get two feet in the paint, it results in two points." 

Despite being down as many as 22, the Griffins battled back to cut the lead to 13 mid-way through the fourth quarter and they showed a lot of fight and forced the Bisons into committing 23 turnovers. 

"Coaches comment to me all the time that your team works hard, and you're tough and gritty and they really battle, and I give them credit," said Adams. 

"We're a little undersized, but we try to use that to play into that a little bit, and we're going to fight and scrap and force bad passes, and I thought we did a decent job of that today."