Slow start costly
Panthers drop second of the weekend to Axewomen
A cold start shooting the basketball cost the UPEI Panthers Saturday in losing 77-64 to the Acadian Axewomen.
The host Panthers went 1-for15 to fall behind 16-2 with 1:25 left in the first quarter.
“We had really good looks and just didn’t make any shots,” Panthers head coach Greg Gould said. “I thought we were a little too passive defensively. I thought we allowed them to do things that we don’t want them to do on a normal basis.”
The Axewomen held quarter leads of 16-6, 38-19 and 56-37 and were ahead by as many as 27 points midway through the third. The Panthers fought back and scored 27 in the fourth - surpassing their first half total by eight.
“I was extremely proud of the way everybody went in and competed. We didn’t give up,” Gould said. “Katie Donahoe knocked down some shots. I thought Jasmine Jones went in and gave us some energy off the bench. Angenay (Williams), I think, was unstoppable on the inside.”
Alexandra Berry led the way for Acadia with 24 points and 17 rebounds while Paloma Anderson chipped in 15 points, nine rebounds, six assists and five steals. Chanel Smith added 13 points and eight rebounds.
Donahoe led the Panthers with 22 points, including going 5-for-8 from three-point territory. Williams had 19 points off the bench in 23 minutes.
The Panthers shot 19 per cent (6-for-32) from the field in the first half and 42 (18-43) in the second.
The Axewomen improved to 11-0 while the Panthers fall to 28 after opening the season 2-0.
The Panthers have dropped three games to start the second half of the season against the top two teams in the conference, who are a combined 20-1.
Gould said the Panthers have some big games coming up with lots of points on the board. The Panthers host UNB (7-4) on Friday and Dalhousie (4-7) on Saturday in four-point games.
“We still have lots of time left to do what we need to do, which is to get ourselves in a playoff position,” he said. “Once you’re in playoff position then anything can happen.”