Courtesy Justin Fowler, Memorial University
Saturday St. FX 61 Memorial 58
The St. FX X-Women took a 61-58 nailbiter from the Memorial Sea-Hawks in a weekend series opener at the Field House on Saturday night in AUS women’s basketball.
Donisha Young was the leader in the win with 17 points off the bench while Kirsten Jones added 14 points.
For Memorial Ally Forsey had a solid outing with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. Grace Fishbein added 17 points in the loss.
Memorial held a narrow two point lead at the half 31-29.
A Rebecca Sheehan three-pointer to open the fourth quarter broke the fifth tie in the game. St. FX didn’t relinquish the lead again.
A Brittany Dalton three-pointer cut the lead to three with 40 seconds to play. The Sea~Hawks defense came up with a much-needed turnover to give the home side a shot at the tie in dying seconds. Fishbein had a look at a three that missed with Sam Kavanagh pulling out the rebound to give the Sea~Hawks a final shot. Dalton pulled up for a three at the buzzer that missed to end the game.
Sunday Memorial 69 St. FX 64
After a tough three point loss the previous night against the X-Women, the Sea~Hawks dug deep and pulled out a 69-64 victory in the series finale on Sunday.
Brittany Dalton was the HITS FM Player of the game for the winning Sea~Hawks as she led the way with 14 points, 6 assists, and a game-high 11 rebounds.
The high scorer for the X-Women was Ashley Stephen with 22 points and 8 rebounds.
After finishing the first quarter with a four-point lead, the Sea~Hawks stepped up their defense and outscored St. FX 27-13 in the second quarter. This strong quarter would give the Sea~Hawks a 18 point lead heading into the second half. The halftime score was 45-27.
Doug Partridge’s Memorial team came out a little flat in the second half as they scored only a combined 24 points in the final two frames.
In the final quarter of play, the X-Women outscored the Sea~Hawks 19-11 but it would not be enough as Memorial escaped with a 69-64 win to close out their final home game of the regular season to earn the series split.
The Sea~Hawks improved to 11-7 on the season.
St. FX are now 12-6.
After the weekend’s competition all of the playoff berths have been locked up with one weekend to play in the AUS women’s basketball regular season. The six teams to vie for the 2011 Subway AUS Championship at the Field House from March 4th to 6th will be UNB, Cape Breton, St. FX, Memorial, Saint Mary’s and Acadia. The actual seeding for the tournament is still in question as the final weekend of the regular season could play a role in the final standings.