Three Stars: Obasuyi, Epp, Shimoda earn honours
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Women's basketball student-athlete Unity Obasuyi is the MacEwan Athletics' first star of the week after scoring 43 points in two weekend games and guiding the Griffins to their first victory of the season.
Obasuyi scored a game-high 23 points in Saturday's 66-62 win over Manitoba.
Men's hockey goaltender Brett Epp and women's volleyball setter Payton Shimoda are the second and third stars of the week, respectively.
It's the fourth time this season that Obasuyi has cracked the Three Stars list, following first star honours on Nov. 26 and second star nods Nov. 5 and Jan. 21.
Epp is also appearing for the fourth time in 2024-25, having previously been named first star Jan. 21, second star Nov. 26 and third star Oct. 1.
And Shimoda is earning her second Three Stars nod of the season, following first honours on Jan. 28
Unity Obasuyi scored a combined 43 points in two games against Manitoba, including leading the Griffins to their first win of the season on Saturday (James Maclennan photo).
1st STAR: Unity Obasuyi, F, women's basketball
Edmonton, AB, second-year, Commerce
Dominant in playing 74 of a possible 80 minutes on the court in a weekend series against Manitoba, Obasuyi led the Griffins to their break-through moment of the 2024-25 campaign.
On Saturday, the beat the Bisons 66-62 behind a 23-point effort from the second-year forward, who also added four rebounds, five assists, three steals and three blocks.
Obasuyi also scored 20 points in Friday's 67-48 loss to Manitoba, adding five rebounds, one assist, two steals and one block.
Over the weekend, she accounted for 38.39% of MacEwan's offensive production, which raises her season average to 30.81 – on pace to break the program record for the highest percentage of the Griffins' points in a Canada West season (27.08, set by Kendall Lydon in 2016-17).
Obasuyi is currently seventh in Canada West in points/game (15.8).
She will lead the Griffins into their final series of the regular season at Alberta on Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (5 p.m., both Saville Centre, Canada West TV).
Brett Epp stopped 61 of 65 shots he faced in a weekend split against the Calgary Dinos, leading the Griffins to a Friday win that clinched a playoff spot (Jim Correy photo).
2nd STAR: Brett Epp, G, men's hockey
Edmonton, AB, fifth-year, Arts
The fifth-year goaltender is a major reason why the Griffins were able to put the finishing touches on clinching a playoff spot over the weekend as he stopped 61 of 64 shots in a two-game series against Calgary.
Epp's performance on Friday when the Griffins were outshot more than 2-to-1 was the clincher – he stopped 36 of 37 shots as they beat the Dinos 3-1 in Calgary, for their first win over them since joining Canada West in 2021.
Epp was also outstanding in Saturday's 4-1 loss, saving 25 of 28 shots, many of the high danger variety – including stopping a first-period penalty shot.
Prior to the contest, the Griffins clinched a playoff spot for a second-straight year when Alberta beat Manitoba to mathematically eliminate the Bisons.
For the season, Epp has a 3.95 GAA and .888 save percentage, making 332 saves in 12 games.
The Griffins close out the regular season with a road trip to Regina for games on Friday (6 p.m. MT) and Saturday (4 p.m. MT, both Canada West TV).
Payton Shimoda broke the program's all-time Canada West assists record on Friday before recording an incredible 47 assists in just four sets on Saturday (Zachary Peters photo).
3rd STAR: Payton Shimoda, S, women's volleyball
Edmonton, AB, fourth-year, Commerce
What a special weekend it was for the veteran Griffins setter, who broke the program's all-time assists record on Friday in Manitoba, before following it up with arguably her finest performance of the season on Saturday.
In Friday's 3-1 loss to the then-U SPORTS No. 3 Bisons (they've since risen to No. 1), Shimoda became the second Griffins to reach 2,000 career Canada West assists in the second set before passing Claire McLoughlin's program record of 2,010 in Set 4.
She was even better in Saturday's 3-1 loss, finishing with 47 assists in just four sets (11.75/set average) and now has 2,060 for her career with one year of eligibility remaining.
Her assist total on Saturday is only six shy of the program record of 53 that she matched on Jan. 25.
For the season, Shimoda has 460 assists and is averaging 7.8 assists/set.
The Griffins conclude the 2024-25 season this weekend when they host Calgary on Friday (5 p.m.) and Saturday (3 p.m., both David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV).
