Antigonish, N.S. - In a key battle of the late season playoff race, the UPEI Panthers (4-11) cruised to a 73-37 victory over the StFX X-Women (2-12) in AUS basketball action Friday night at the Oland Centre.
On the strength of 11 points from former StFX player Anne Kiberd (Halifax, NS), the visiting Panthers jumped to a 22-7 advantage after the first quarter. The fifth-year shooting guard scored eight of her team's first 10 points.
Tamara Tompkins, who scored 12 points in the first half, also helped UPEI gain the lead with her work on defense and the offensive boards.
In the first quarter, X-Women forwards Kolbi Roper (North Vancouver, BC) and Lindsay Lessard (Waterloo, ON) were assessed two fouls apiece.
UPEI shot 47.1 per cent from the floor in the opening 10 minutes, while StFX was only 3-for-17 (17.6 per cent).
In the second quarter, the Panthers rode a 14-2 spurt to take their largest lead - 36-11 - after five minutes. Kiberd and Jane McLaughlin (Fortune, PEI) drained three-pointers to spark the surge.
After an 8-2 run by the X-Women in the final minutes, the Panthers led 38-19 at halftime.
Roper and Lessard, with seven and six, respectively, scored 13 of 19 first-half points for the X-Women.
With a 13-0 burst after the intermission, the Panthers extended to a 51-19 edge in the opening seven minutes of the third quarter, with Kiera Rigby (Charlottetown, PEI) leading the way with back-to-back lay-ups.
Lessard stopped the UPEI run with a rebound and put-back, the first StFX basket of the second half, with 90 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The Panthers led 53-23 heading into the fourth quarter.
UPEI put the finishing touches on the convincing victory with an 11-2 run to start the fourth quarter, which included back-to-back shots from beyond the arc from Kiberd and Kendra Craswell (Charlottetown, PEI). After the consecutive three-pointers, the Panthers led 64-25.
Tompkins, the Subway player of the game, finished with 18 points, five steals, four assists and four rebounds, while Kiberd collected a game-high 22 points, including five three-point shots. She added three assists, one steal and one rebound.
Rigby and McLaughlin also finished in double-figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Rigby also chipped in six rebounds and five assists, while McLaughlin notched nine rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots. Veteran guard Katelynn Donahoe (Riverview, NB) hauled down 10 rebounds and dished out seven assists, while adding three points and two steals.
For the X-Women, Lessard contributed 12 points and nine rebounds, while Roper - who fouled out early in the fourth quarter - finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Shannon Hatch (Arzo, Switzerland) added five rebounds, three assists and one blocked shot, with freshman forward Jamie McCarron (New Glasgow, NS) corralling six rebounds, one steal and one assist.
The teams will wrap-up the back-to-back weekend series Saturday, with tip-off set for 2 p.m. at Oland Centre.
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