Courtesy The Chronicle Herald

Sheryl Chisholm poured in 35 points on Friday night to lead the St. Francis Xavier X-Women to a convincing 98-69 victory over the UNB Varsity Reds in Atlantic university women’s basketball action.

At Antigonish, Ashley Stephen added 16 and Kirsten Jones 14 as the X-Women improved to 13-6 by knocking off the Varsity Reds (14-5), who were alone in first place before their loss and Cape Breton’s win over the UPEI Panthers pulled the Capers (15-4) even with UNB.

Leah Corby was top scorer for UNB with 16.

Capers 89, Panthers 63: In Sydney, the Capers hammered winless UPEI (0-19) to jump into a first-place tie with the Varsity Reds. Kari Everett and Denisha Heywood each had 18 points to pace the Capers, who cruised to a 39-22 halftime lead and never looked back. Tanira McClurkin added 11 and Jahlica Kirnon 10 for the Capers. Amy Gough and Jenna Jones hit double digits for the Panthers with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

•In men’s action Friday:

X-Men 87, Varsity Reds 77: At Antigonish, Christian Upshaw and Will Silver combined for 52 points in powering St. F.X. to victory. Upshaw had 27 and Silver 25 for the X-Men, who enjoyed a huge advantage at the foul line, connecting on 27 of 33 attempts compared to 13 of 17 for the Varsity Reds. Andrew Wright and William McFee were the big guns for the visitors with 28 and 18, respectively.

Capers 77, Panthers 70: At Sydney, Paris Carter and Jimmy Dorsey led a balanced scoring attack for Cape Breton with 15 points apiece. Phillip Nkrumah also had a big game, scoring 14 points and hauling down 16 rebounds. Jonathan Cooper was high man for the Panthers with 26 points.