Lady Hawks’ comeback falls short

The Cape Breton Capers built up a huge half-time lead and held on for a 62-57 victory over Memorial Sea-Hawks in Atlantic University Sport (AUS) women’s basketball quarter-final play Thursday night at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax. The Sea-Hawks trailed by 21 points at the break, but some effective three-point shooting brought Memorial close, but not close enough. Kelia Pond (shown above) led MUN with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Sandra Amoah and Tiana Brown each scored 10 points. Meanwhile, the sixthseeded Memorial Sea-Hawks men’s basketball team takes on third-seeded Saint Mary’s Huskies 9:45 (NT) tonight in AUS quarter-final play, also at Scotiabank Centre.

The Memorial Sea-Hawks put on a furious comeback in the final quarter only to fall 62-57 to the Cape Breton Capers in Atlantic University Sport (AUS) women’s basketball quarter-finals at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax Thursday night.

The Capers, who defeated the Lady Hawks three out of four times during the regular season, jumped out to 27-11 lead in the opening quarter, then led by 21points (46-25) at the half and 20 after three quarters.

However, the Sea-Hawks came out flying in the fourth quarter, forcing the Capers to take a full timeout with 7:14 left after the deficit was reduced to nine points.

MUN continued to rally and trailed by just five points with just under two minutes to play, but that’s as close as the Lady Hawks would come.

“We just didn’t bring any energy,” said MUN coach Doug Partridge of the disastrous opening quarter. “They came out with a lot of fire and we didn’t match that intensity.”

Despite the poor start, the SeaHawks had a shot at a win in the end.

“We had four layups in the third quarter and if we’d made two or three of them. I think we would have won the game,” said Partridge.

“It’s very difficulty to get down by 21 points and come back to win. We needed everything to go right. But, full credit to the girls. We got to within five. We just didn’t have enough left to get a stop.”

Fifth-year Kelia Pond, in her final game with Memorial, paced the Lady Hawks with 14 points, including four three-pointers, while pulling down eight rebounds.

“I thought she played a great game,” Partridge said.