Three Stars: Farmer, McLean, Osunde earn honours
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Women's basketball student-athlete Mackenzie Farmer is the MacEwan Athletics' first star of the week after reaching 1,000 career Canada West points.
Farmer scored 10 points against Trinity Western on Friday, reaching the mark with a layup late in the third quarter. She also netted a game-high 21 points against TWU on Saturday.
Spencer McLean of men's hockey and Matthew Osunde of men's basketball were named the second and third stars of the week, respectively.
Both Farmer and Osunde are appearing on the list for the second time this season after previously being named second stars on Nov. 8 and Nov. 22, respectively, while McLean is being honoured for the first time.
1st STAR: Mackenzie Farmer, F, women's basketball
Sherwood Park, AB, fifth-year, Arts
On her final basket of the first semester, Mackenzie Farmer became the all-time leading scorer in MacEwan's Canada West history, passing Kayla Ivicak (995 career points).
And on her second basket of the second semester – a layup late in the third quarter last Friday against Trinity Western – Farmer became the first player in program history to reach 1,000 career points exclusively in Canada West play.
She also joins an exclusive club of five Griffins women's basketball players to reach 1,000 career points in the ACAC or ACAC and Canada West combined – Megan Wood (1,504), Michelle Mackinnon (1,267), Bayan Kurd (1,075) and Kendall Lydon (1,043). Wood and Lydon played a portion of their careers in Canada West, while also playing in MacEwan's ACAC era.
Farmer scored 10 points, adding eight rebounds, two assists and two steals in MacEwan's 79-54 loss to the Spartans on Friday.
Then, with a game-high 21 points, seven rebounds, three steals and one block in 38 minutes of action in Saturday's rematch (a 67-62 loss), Farmer is now up to 1,027 career points.
Farmer and the Griffins are enjoying a bye weekend before returning to action Jan. 20-21 vs. Alberta.
Spencer McLean scored goals in each of MacEwan's two games against the Calgary Dinos on the weekend (Joel Kingston photo).
2nd STAR: Spencer McLean, F, men's hockey
Montrose, BC, third-year, Open Studies
Spencer McLean made hay with limited minutes on the fourth line, scoring goals in each of the Griffins' games against Calgary on the weekend.
The fourth-line forward, who has been a hard-working energy guy for the Griffins, tallied one of MacEwan's five goals in a 7-5 loss to the Dinos on Friday before scoring the team's lone marker in a 4-1 loss Saturday.
McLean had three shots over the weekend and finished +1.
The goals were his first two in Canada West play after netting four of them in his rookie season with the Griffins in 2019-20 when the team was still in the ACAC.
For the season, McLean is second on the Griffins in plus/minus (E), and has those goals in 11 games played.
He leads MacEwan into a road weekend at the Regina Cougars on Friday (6 p.m. MT) and Saturday (2 p.m. MT, both Canada West TV).
Griffins' leading scorer Matthew Osunde had another strong weekend in action against Trinity Western (Eduardo Perez photo).
3rd STAR: Matthew Osunde, G, men's basketball
Morinville, AB, second-year, Science
As the leader of the Griffins' attack at the point guard position, Matthew Osunde spearheaded much of what they did against the Trinity Western Spartans over the weekend.
The second-year team captain narrowly missed a double double in Friday's tight 75-70 loss, producing nine points, nine rebounds and a game-high seven assists for the Griffins.
In Saturday's 87-56 loss, Osunde scored nearly a third of the Griffins' points (17), while adding four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
For the season, Osunde leads MacEwan in scoring, averaging 12.3 points per game and is also tops in rebounds (6.6) and assists (4.3).
The Griffins are on a bye week before returning to action Jan. 20-21 vs. Alberta.
