X-Women down V-Reds, advance to AUS final

(FREDERICTON, NB) – In semi-final #2 of the Subway AUS women's basketball championship the second seeded StFX X-Women defeated the sixth seeded and host UNB Varsity Reds squad 74-63. With the win the X-Women advance to tomorrow’s championship game at 2:00 pm against the top seeded Saint Mary’s Huskies. The Huskies defeated the Memorial Sea-Hawks 68-59 in the earlier semifinal.

Subway player of the game Lia St. Pierre led the X-Women with a game-high 27 points. The senior forward also had five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Rachel Cleary was the player of the game for the Varsity Reds with 13 points and six rebounds.

The game was tightly contested for the first three quarters with UNB holding leads of 24-22 after the first quarter and 40-36 at halftime. The X-Women outscored the V-Reds 19-14 in the third quarter to take slight 55-54 edge after 30 minutes of play.

The X-Women rallied in the fourth quarter and outlasted the Varsity Reds 19-9 en route to the victory. StFX built up a 10 point lead with under five minutes to play and maintained solid defense.

X-Women head coach Augy Jones commented, “I am very proud of the team, for us to get to the AUS final in my first year is a testament to the type of players we have on the team and the coaching staff. We have a big game tomorrow and I am proud of them for getting as far as we have gotten. We are really excited about tomorrow and hopefully StFX will be cheering us on.”

Jones mentioned the efforts of Lia St Pierre. “She is outstanding and had a great game today. We needed her today and she did a great job rebounding, she passed the ball when she needed to, and she made big shots when she needed to.”

Along with St. Pierre’s 25 points, second year guard Vanessa Pickard scored 18 points and had five rebounds and five assists. Kolbi Roper chipped in with eight points and Lindsay Lessard scored seven.

Third year UNB wing Claire Colborne led the game in rebounds, with eight, and also scored 14 points. Laura Fowler added nine.

The X-Women shot 40.3% from the floor, including 51.5% in the second half. The Varsity Reds were 30.9% from field goal range.

The tournament continues tomorrow with the championship game at 2:00 pm at the Richard Currie Center in Fredericton as the Saint Mary’s Huskies take on the X-Women. The game can be viewed live at www.austv.ca.
Both the X-Women and Huskies only hold one AUS title apiece dating back to 1952. The X-Women claimed the championship in 1997, while the Huskies’ lone title dates back to 1977.

In regular season play this season Saint Mary’s held a 3-1 record over StFX, though the X-Women handed the CIS No. 2 Huskies only their second loss of the season on the final day of AUS play.

Schedule:

Friday March 8
Game 1, MUN 72 Vs DAL 62
Game 2, UNB 66 vs ACA 60

Saturday March 9
Game 3, MUN 59 Vs SMU 68
Game 4 StFX 74 vs UNB 63

Sunday March 10
Game 6 SMU vs StFX