In a game full of playoff implications the Heat went cold and fell to the visiting Griffins by 20 (68-48). The rematch gets underway tomorrow at 5 p.m.
Friday, February 12th, 2016
UBC Okanagan, Kelowna, BC
FINAL 1 2 3 4 T MacEwan (14-3) 20 20 10 18 68 UBC Okanagan (10-7) 9 10 15 14 48
KELOWNA, B.C.– The MacEwan Griffins (14-3) defeated the UBC Okanagan Heat (10-7) on Friday night, by a final score of 68-48 in the UBC Okanagan gymnasium. Each team finished with two players scoring in double digits, with Megan Wood and Kendall Lydon scoring 21 and 14 respectively for the Griffins, and Emily Kanester and Claire Elliott scoring 14 and 10 respectively for the Heat.
These two teams will finish their season series tomorrow night in Kelowna with a 5 p.m. tip-off; with the win the Griffins jump into sole possession of first place in the Explorer division of Canada West because the Thompson Rivers WolfPack lost by one point (57-56) at home to the Fraser Valley Cascades. UFV now equal’s the Heat’s (10-7) record and jump ahead of UBCO for third place with a better head-to-head record.
MacEwan finished the game ahead in nearly every statistical category. The Griffins earned more rebounds than the Heat (49-31), as well as more assists (17-8), blocks (5-0), and steals (8-5). MacEwan also finished with better percentages in field goal shooting (49.1% – 26.6%), three-point shooting (25.0 3FG% – 21.1 3FG%), and free throw shooting (75.0% – 58.8%).
Kelly Fagan of the Griffins led the match in rebounding, with 12, her teammate Kendall Lydon led the game in assists, with seven, and Lydon was the only player in the game to earn a block, finishing the game with five. Lydon also led the contest in steals, with three. The Heat’s Emily Kanester was the leader in minutes, on the floor for 31 of the 40 minutes of play on the night.
The first quarter in Friday night’s contest saw MacEwan take the early lead, 20-9 over UBC Okanagan. The Griffins made eight of 16 shots in the frame, and two of six from three-point range, to shoot 50%, and 33.3 3FG%, while the Heat made three of 14, and one of five from three-point range, for 21.4%, and 20.0 3FG%. Megan Wood led all scorers in the frame, with nine points for MacEwan, while Emily Kanester led the Heat with five of her team’s nine points in the quarter.
At half time, MacEwan led UBC Okanagan by a score of 40-19. The Griffins out-muscled the Heat throughout the first half, and held the advantage in field goal percentage (54.8% – 23.3%), three-point shooting (22.2 3FG% – 11.1 3FG%), and free-throw shooting (100% – 57.1%) after the first 20 minutes of play. Leading scorers at the half were Megan Wood, who had 11 points for the Griffins, and Claire Elliott, who had seven points for the Heat.
The third quarter ended with MacEwan still leading UBC Okanagan, 50-34. In the quarter, leading scorers were Megan Wood, with eight points in the frame for the Griffins, and Emily Kanester, who scored five in the quarter for the Heat. Both Wood and Kanester were also two of the three leading scorers for the game after three quarters, with 19 and 10 points respectively in the first 30 minutes of the match; the other top scorer was Claire Elliott, who also had 10 points for the Heat through three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, the Griffins scored 18, and the Heat scored 14. In the final frame, the Heat’s Emma Johnson led all scorers with six points, while Kendall Lydon led all Griffins in the last ten minutes with five points.
~ Grayson Leahy, Heat Sports Information