In one of the most anticipated nights of the season, the StFX X-Women fell short Wednesday night 72-58 against the CIS ranked No. 9 Cape Breton University Capers.

A crowd of 850+ at the StFX Oland Center spent most of the game on their feet as the Capers and X-Women traded baskets continuously.

Sheryl Chisholm was the ‘X-Factor’ for StFX, scoring 17 points on 50% shooting from the field while Ashley Stephen was the next leading scorer for the X-Women with 12.

The first quarter was exactly what the X-Women were looking for. The fast, up-tempo offence lead by point guard Tory Anderson was able to score 18 points, while the stifling defence held CBU to 16 points. With a few lucky baskets at the end of the first quarter, the Capers were fortunate to find themselves only down two points.

The second quarter proved to be the back breaker for the X-Women as their offence went cold and they had no answer for the Capers scoring punch down low.

Capers’ senior Kari Everett lead all scorers in the game with 25 points and was a huge factor to the strong turnaround in the second quarter for the Capers. On the flip side, the X-Women couldn’t buy a basket as they ended the half shooting 34%, on the downside of a 35-28 game at half-time.

The second half had a very similar feeling to the first quarter as the X-Women once again stepped their defence to another level and caused several turnovers, but unfortunately the X-Women fell just short in the team’s second meeting of the season.

The Capers continued their lead in the third quarter and were up by a ten-point spread at 52-42 after 30 minutes of play en route to the 72-58 victory.

With the win, the Capers (9-3) take over sole possession of first place in the AUS standings, while the X-Women (6-4) find themselves in a tie for third place with Saint Mary’s (6-6), each with 16 points. StFX will now look ahead to Saturday evening when they take on the nationally ranked No. 5 and AUS second place UNB Varsity Reds (8-1).

Courtesy Mat MacDonald