Box Score
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."
 
Lethbridge also got 14 points from Kacie Bosch, while Katie Keith had 11 rebounds and seven points.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 Pronghorns and Griffins have a short turnaround with Saturday's rematch going at 1 p.m. in Edmonton. Catch all the action on www.canadawest.tv.