‘We’ll continue to get better’
Axewomen basketball team impress with weekend wins
The U SPORTS No. 3 ranked Acadia Axewomen opened the 2017-18 AUS regular season with a convincing 91-62 and 83-61 wins over the visiting Memorial Sea-hawks this past weekend.
Axewoman Allie Berry was named the Subway Player of the Game for her outstanding inside game that offered 20 points and nine rebounds Saturday night in Acadia’s first of two games. On the losing end, Sydney Stewart netted a Sea-hawk high 18 points.
Except for the early going of, the Axewomen held on to a lead for the entire game, growing the advantage to a game high of 31 in the closing minute of the final quarter.
Memorial was out-rebounded 46-28 and recorded 17 turnovers compared to Acadia’s 12.
Acadia had 31 points off the bench, while the Sea-hawks posted only 10. Axewoman Ellen Hatt led the way with 11 points in her roll as a reserve.
Brooklyn Wright and Lindsay Taylor added 14 and 11 points, respectively, to Memorial’s total. Stewart’s 18 points earned her the Sea-hawks’ Player of the Game honours.
The Axewomen showed several moments of unfocused play, allowing Memorial to close large Acadia leads.
“The spurts were mostly a result of our inattention to the details of what we were trying to do. We just needed a few reminders to focus back in,” said Acadia head coach Len Harvey.
Overall, Harvey was pleased with the team’s performance after two weeks off from their last exhibition game.
“I think we met some expectations, we are continuing to grow as a group, but I thought we got contributions from a lot of areas. It was a nice ‘committee’ win tonight,” noted Harvey.
“Our biggest thing we need to work on is turning the dial up to 11 and leaving it there for 40 minutes. We still have too many casual moments that bite us. We’ll continue to get better in that area.”
A dominant game in the paint was the storyline in the second game between the U SPORTS No. 3 ranked Acadia Axewomen and visiting Memorial.
Scoring was spread evenly among four of the five Axewomen starters. Last night Allie Berry dominated for Acadia on the inside game, but this afternoon Haley Mcdonald, Kelsey Rice, Chanel Smith and Paloma Anderson all scored in the teens.
Third year rebounding phenom Kelsey Rice captured the Subway Player of the Game honours with 15 points and an impressive 17 rebounds.
Rice’s play was the highlight of the Axewomen’s game in the paint.
“I think we naturally did it today (great play in the paint). I feel that it’s our game too. We are really trying to drive into the paint more often. Coach told us just to keep the intensity up,” commented Rice following the game.
The Axewomen pushed out to a 29-19 lead after one quarter, with Rice netting 7 points and pulling down 8 rebounds.
Memorial never held a lead throughout today’s game.
Acadia led in most statistical categories including a 63 to 44 rebound advantage and 38 points in the paint compared to Memorial’s 18.
Sydney Stewart had another sharp game, leading Memorial with 14 points. Cameron Longley collected 10 rebounds for the Seahawks. Acadia was led by Chanel Smith’s 16 points and nine rebounds. Rice and Paloma Anderson added 15 points and second year guard Haley Mcdonald contributed 13 points including three 3-point baskets.
The Axewomen improved to 2-0 with wins against Memorial this past weekend, while the Seahawks start the season winless. Acadia hosts STFX this Thursday night beginning at 7 p.m. as the lone game of the night and Memorial hosts Dalhousie next weekend beginning on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. NT.