Horns open with sweep of Griffins
REMATCHES TONIGHT AT 5 AND 7 P . M . AT 1ST CHOICE SAVINGS CENTRE
It all started with a little defence for the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s basketball team.
It ended with a season- and home-opening win as the Horns downed the MacEwan Griffins 78-54 in Canada West play Friday night at the 1st Choice Savings Centre.
Katie Keith led the Pronghorns with 12 points and Amy Mazutinec, Danielle Fritzke and Kacie Bosch each added 11 as Lethbridge takes the weekend opener and goes for the sweep in the rematch tonight at 5 p.m.
After giving up 22 points in the second quarter that allowed the Griffins to claw within five at 38-34 at the half, the Horns clamped down in the second half, holding MacEwan to 20 points while sinking some timely shots in the process.
“Our big focus was playing good defence and a lot of ball pressure,” said Keith. “Our coach talks about it all starting from defence, so we bumped up the defensive intensity. We out-boarded a bit better and with that, the ball moves better and we pass the ball more and our three-point shooters get some open shots.”
Mazutinec added seven rebounds in Friday’s win, while Asnate Fomina chipped in with six assists.
“I like the way the team responded defensively,” said Pronghorns interim head coach Dave Waknuk. “We challenged them defensively. They gave up 22 points in the second quarter and only gave up 20 in the second half. We’ve said this all along (that) if we want to be one of the better teams in the country we need to be better defensively and that’s been the focus for us since Day 1. So I was happy with the way we played defensively.
“I think offensively we have a lot of talent and players that can make plays and I was happy with that, but I think with the second-half defence, that’s the way we need to set the tone early tomorrow.”
Fifth-year guard Fritzke had four steals and was 3-for-6 from beyond the arc.
“We have the ability to hit shots from different spots,” said Waknuk. “Danielle, being a fifth-year and starting in her last home opener, came in and hit three on a row and that just shows you the ability she has. To have a weapon like that and someone who can get on a roll, it just changes the whole momentum. It changed the gym and it changed the energy. A shooter like that is huge and that’s why Dani is so important to us.”
The Pronghorns go for the sweep today at 5 p.m. with the men’s game to follow at 7 p.m.
“Their trademarks is they don’t quit and you can see that tonight,” said Waknuk. “They battled us for 40 minutes and that was a tough, hard-fought game on both ends and we know the same thing is going to happen tomorrow. For us, we’re talking about trying to improve some of the things we do, but we know they’re going to match our effort. So we have to come in with a different intensity and focus and just try to one-up and get better from what we did today. We’re really happy with the first one, but already thinking about the second one.”
From the field, the Horns shot 46.9 per cent (30-64) and were 5-17 from three-point range at 29.4 per cent. They were 81.3 per cent on free throws (13-16).
In the men’s game Friday night, the Pronghorns rolled to a 92-54 win over the Griffins as Mike Pierzchala put up 23 points for Lethbridge.
Colton Gibb added 18 points for the Pronghorns and Zac Overwater and Eric Pierce scored 15 and 11, respectively.
Overwater had eight rebounds and Kyle Peterson chipped in with 11 assists.
The Horns shot 46.3 per cent from the field (31-67), 32 per cent from the three-point line (8-25) and 78.6 per cent on free throws (22-28).
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