Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – After weeks of battling, scratching and clawing their way through the adversity of having to play multiple games with only eight players due to injuries, the MacEwan Griffins women's basketball team just ran out of gas in their season finale on Saturday.
They finished the campaign with an ugly 79-29 loss to the Alberta Pandas, who are gearing up for a national title run as the No. 7-ranked team in the country.
"I would say we ran out gas," said Griffins head coach Katherine Adams. "We've been battling and competing and fighting the last six weeks short-handed. We've been working on improving and taking some really great strides and today it all came to a head a little bit.
"We still came out and battled and competed, but against a team like Alberta it was just a bit much and we were definitely running on empty."
With the result, the Griffins finish the campaign with a 1-19 record and will miss the playoffs for a third-straight season.
Alberta concludes at 18-2 and will finish second in the Prairie Division, which gives them the third seed in the Canada West playoffs. They will host a Play-In/Quarter-finals weekend Feb. 21-23 with the sixth and 11thseeds (Victoria and Lethbridge) pitted against each other for the right to play the Pandas in a match that determines who goes to the Final Four.
Unity Obasuyi hits a big three off a scramble play recovered by the @MacEwanGriffins in the first half at the Saville Centre.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/aptz3aic3g
— MacEwan Griffins Women's Basketball Team (@Griffins_WBB) February 16, 2025
On Saturday, Unity Obasuyi led the Griffins with 11 points and eight rebounds. She finishes the season averaging 15.7 points/game, which is eighth-best in Canada West. That's the fifth-best average by a Griffin in a Canada West season, and her 299 total points is also fifth.
Additionally, no Griffins women's basketball player has ever scored a greater percentage of their team's total points since the program entered Canada West in 2014. Obasuyi accounted for an astounding 31.54% of MacEwan's total offensive production, which shatters the previous mark of 27.08%, set by Kendall Lydon in 2016-17.
"Phenomenal," said Adams. "I think we knew last year she was going to be something really special in this league. We saw glimpses of it. It's a credit to her on the work she's put in in the off-season and continued to put in over the course of the season.
"She certainly has put people on notice that she can score in a lot of different ways. She's a very dangerous player people are going to have to prepare for and look out for moving forward."
Sofia Makinen's big for the best free-throw percentage in a Canada West season by a Griffin fell short when she only made 2/4 on Saturday, meaning she finishes at 88.2, just shy of Noelle Kilbreath's record of 88.9, and also behind the 88.8 Lydon had in 2016-17.
Despite how it finished on Saturday, the Griffins have a young team that's eligible to return in its entirety, and the future is bright.
"I think that we certainly gained momentum throughout the course of the year," said Adams. "Lots of people in different moments stepped up and showcased what they can do and what they bring at this level.
"So, looking at all the little wins and the growth we've made in the close games that we've had over the course of the season, we are certainly feeling optimistic and excited to put in work over this off-season and come back better, stronger and tougher.
"The girls spoke today about how excited they are. Obviously, they're going to take some time off, but just get healthy and get back in the gym and keep grinding so that we're going to be in a different situation next season."
