Antigonish, NS - The Cape Breton Capers overcame a resilient StFX X-Women squad to earn a 71-52 victory Saturday evening. It marked the second straight won for the Capers over the X-Women, having previously won at home Thursday night.
After one quarter of play the Capers led 22-11 on the strength of nine points and great overall play by Monique Calliste (Toronto, ON). She showed great speed down the floor and had the X defenders on their back heels.
The league's leading scorer, Hannah Brown (North Sydney, NS), was solid down low as Caper shots from distance were not finding the mark. Key for the visitors as they searched for their form was Madison Munro (Truro, NS). She made a number of fine defensive plays and her positioning in the front court set up easy baskets in the paint.
For StFX early on, Samantha Minicucci (Mississauga, ON) had a great start. Defensively, the Barrie, Ont. duo of Katie MacIntosh and Leah Fahey did a great job in the paint against Brown.
The X-Women began to find the mark with more regularity in the second quarter. Kimberly Kingsbury (Nepean, ON) showed her team leading scoring form with five key points.
Both teams struggled from beyond the arc until early in the quarter. MInicucci hit the game's first three, which loosened up the shooters on both teams. Unfortunately for Minicucci, she rolled her ankle just as the half was expiring and played no part in the second half.
StFX reeled CBU in, reducing the lead at one point to 23-22, but Calliste and her teammates were able to find an extra gear to keep the X-Women in arrears. Hannah Brown's nine points were vital to the Capers extending their lead. CBU outscored StFX by a narrow 18-17 margin to take a 40-28 lead into the halftime break.
The second half began with StFX in hot pursuit of the Capers lead. The first priority for X was to limit the Capers offence, which they did effectively as CBU scored only 10 points in the third quarter.
The X-Women trailed by just four points, 46-42 with under two minutes to play in the quarter. The guard play of Maggie Segeren (Komoka, ON) and rookie Lucia MacKay (New Glasgow, NS) was stellar. They played excellent defensively and made a number of nice offensive plays to keep the hometown crowd hoping that the X-Women could upset one of the league's top teams. Cape Breton was up 50-44 heading into the final quarter of play.
The fourth quarter would see the X-Women come no closer as the Capers turned the screw. Hannah Brown showed her skill with nine points, with the X-Women were only able to muster eight points in total. The dynamic Capers side proved too much for the X-Women, and CBU's 71-52 victory was a fair reflection of the overall quality of the two teams.
Madison Munroe earned Subway player of the game honours as she contributed 10 points and 6 rebounds in the win. Brown led all scorers in the game with 28 points and posted a big night under the boards as well with 19 rebounds.
Calliste also had a double-double night for Cape Breton, scoring 19 points and pulling in 11 rebounds.
For the X-Women, Kimberly Kingsbury led the scoring with 13 points. StFX player of the game Lucia MacKay scored 12 off the bench and led the team with 8 rebounds. Minicucci scored eight and had seven rebounds before leaving the game.
Next on the AUS schedule sees the Capers host the UPEI Panthers next Friday, February 22nd in Sydney. The X-Women will host the same Panthers squad the following night in Antigonish.
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Courtesy Bart Sears, StFX Sports Information