X-Women drop second straight game to Reds

FREDERICTON, NB - The margin of victory was less, but the UNB Reds still handed the StFX X-Women another loss, 75-52, on Saturday evening.

UNB's win came in the second half of back-to-back games between the two teams.

It took no time for the Reds to jump out to a double-digit lead with an opening 15-2 run. UNB cut through the X-Women defence to lead 17-10 after the first quarter.

It would be more of the same for StFX in the second quarter as they were outscored 18-13, and UNB took a 36-23 lead into the half.

Mikaela Dodig (Bolton, ON) lead the way for the Reds with 14 points while going 3-5 from three-point range while the X-Women went 1-5 as a team.

In the third, the X-Women kept the Reds offence more contained, but still trailed considerably, 54-37, heading into the fourth quarter.

That trend continued as the game concluded with Reds coming out with the 75-52 victory.

Despite the win, Reds head coach Jeff Speedy expected a stronger effort from his team.

"We set three goals and that was to be really aggressive offensively, to dominate rebounding on both ends of the floor and to execute really, really well on offense… I think the aggressive on defence part for part of the first and second quarter, I would say fifty-percent of the time, we were successful in doing that, the other two things we didn't even come close to doing. Score or not, we fell really short on two of our goals and only did one of the others for a little while, that's frustrating at this stage of the season," said Speedy.

Dodig was named Subway Player of the Games, finishing with 14 points and three rebounds.

Even with her personal success, she concurred with the message her coach sent to the team.

"I think even offensively, sometimes we start the game or start the half really well and executed well on offence and then things just slowed down and kind of stopped and we are missing shots and we kind of got out of our groove and it hurt us defensively," said Dodig.

The Reds improve to 9-and-6 on the season with their third straight win, while the X-Women drop to 0-13 on the season.

Ja'Yon Leak (Charlotte, NC) had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Reds, while Grace Simpson (Fredericton, NB) and Eva Tumwine (Fredericton, NB) each scored 10.

Kimberly Kingsbury (Nepean, ON) had a game-high 20 points for StFX, while Nalini Maharaj (East Bay, NS) had 12 points and four rebounds.

Next up for the Reds, a trip to Charlottetown to take on the UPEI Panthers, next Saturday. Game time is 6:00pm.

The X-Women will be at home the same night to take on the Memorial Sea-Hawks in a four-point affair.

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Courtesy Jonathon James, UNB Athletics