StFX Upsets No. 3 Carleton in Defensive Battle
Courtesy: University of Windsor sports information
March 18, 2011
WINDSOR, Ont. (CIS) – In one of the lowest scoring games in championship history, the sixth-seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Women upset the No. 3 Carleton Ravens 50-44 in the first quarter-final matchup of the CIS women’s basketball Final 8, Friday afternoon, at the University of Windsor’s St. Denis Centre.
Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mbkb
After meeting last Saturday in the final of the Central Regional qualifying tournament which saw the X-Women come away with a 64-59 win against the Ravens, StFX managed to pull out another win in dramatic fashion against the Ravens.
In only their second-ever appearance at the Final 8, the X-Women advance to Saturday’s early semifinal at 6 p.m., where they’ll face either No. 2 Saskatchewan or No. 7 Wilfrid Laurier.
Carleton moves to the consolation side and will take the court at 1 p.m.
After a slow start, both teams turned up the intensity in the second half, St. Francis Xavier found their stroke shooting 46.2% from the field in the second half.
StFX had made only three of 10 field goals in the first quarter (30%) and six of 24 shots in the first half (25%), and shot 36 per cent for the afternoon (18 of 50).
The team from Antigonish, N.S., also struggled from the free throw line finishing with a 46.4 per cent success rate (13 of 28).
Carleton was even less successful draining on only three of 19 field goals in the first 10 minutes (15.8%) and going 7-of-36 in the first half en route to an 18-of-66 effort for the game (27.3%).
StFX led 8-7 after the first period, and trailed 18-17 at the break and 32-21 after three frames.
Donisha Young of Brampton, Ont., led all scorers in the game with 15 points and also grabbed six rebounds.
Reigning AUS defensive player of the Year Ashley Stephen had eight points and eight rebounds. Her inspired play sparked her team’s stagnate offence after a great individual effort which lead to a three-point play.
“This is a huge win for our program,” said the Scarborough, Ont., native. “No one really thought we would make it here, and now we’re headed to the national semifinals. This is awesome.”
Carleton, which came into the game ranked third in Canada after losing to the host Windsor Lancers in the OUA championship match earlier this month, was led by the duo of Ashleigh Cleary of Kemptville, Ont., and Alyson Bush of Ottawa, who scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.
In a game that saw 13 lead changes both teams battled for every point. In the first quarter both teams struggled to find their rhythm, with four different scorers chipping in the X-Women.
After a back and forth second quarter saw St. Francis Xavier squander their lead, Carleton took over with an 18-17 lead at the break.
The third stanza saw both teams exchange baskets with no team being able to pull away, after being held off the score sheet in the first half Young dominated the paint putting up seven points in the third quarter while hauling down five rebounds.
The 5-foot-10 Brampton native continued to be a force in the fourth as she chipped in with 8 of her teams 19 points to help put the X-Women up by six.
GAME NOTES: StFX became the first AUS team to reach the national semifinals since Memorial and Dalhousie in 2007... No AUS team has ever captured the Bronze Baby Trophy since the inaugural CIS championship in 1972... The game marked the third match-up of the season between Carleton and StFX, and the second one in six days... The X-Women defeated the Ravens 64-59 last Saturday (March 12) in the final of the new Central Regional qualifying tournament in Ottawa, while Carleton prevailed 67-66 back on Oct. 17 at the Dalhousie Invitational pre-season tourney in Halifax... In its only previous appearance at the CIS Final 8, in 1997, StFX lost 109-88 to Manitoba in the quarter-final round and 97-61 to Victoria on the consolation side of the draw... The all-time CIS championship record for lowest combined point total is 84, while the record for fewest points by a winning team is 47...
STAT LEADERS:
StFX
Points: Donisha Young (15), Kristen Jones (13), Ashley Stephen (8)
Rebounds: Kristen Jones (8), Ashley Stephen (8)
Assists: Rebecca Sheehan (4)
Player of the game: Kristen Jones
Carleton
Points: Ashleigh Cleary (11), Alyson Bush (10)
Rebounds: Kendall MacLeod (10), Ashleigh Cleary (7)
Assists: Alyson Bush (5)
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Friday, March 18
Quarter-final #1: StFX 50, Carleton 44
15:00 Quarter-final #2: No. 7 Laurier vs. No. 2 Saskatchewan (SSN Canada webcast) *
18:00 Quarter-final #3: No. 8 Laval vs. No. 1 Windsor (SSN Canada webcast) *
20:00 Quarter-final #4: No. 5 Toronto vs. No. 4 Cape Breton (SSN Canada webcast)
* Televised locally on TVCogeco.
Saturday, March 19
13:00 Consolation #1: Carleton vs. Loser QF #2 (SSN Canada webcast)
15:00 Consolation #2: Loser QF #3 vs. Loser QF #4 (SSN Canada webcast)
18:00 Semifinal #1: StFX vs. Winner QF #2 (SSN Canada webcast) *
20:00 Semifinal #2: Winner QF #3 vs. Winner QF #4 (SSN Canada webcast) *
* Televised locally on TVCogeco.
Sunday, March 20
11:00 5th place game (SSN Canada webcast)
13:00 Bronze medal game (SSN Canada webcast) *
16:30 Championship final (Live on TSN)
* Televised locally on TVCogeco.
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-one universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.
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