Antigonish, NS – The Acadia Axewomen picked up their first win of the season in the AUS opener with an 83-53 victory over the STFX X-Women Wednesday evening on Coach K Court at the Saputo Centre.

The defending AUS champion Axewomen got out to an 18-11 lead after the first quarter of play.

The X-Women played a tighter second quarter and trailed by four points, 28-24 with six minutes to play after Aliyah Fraser (New Glasgow, NS) nailed a three-pointer. The Axewomen responded as Sandy Saunders (Woodstock, NB) went on a hot streak and sank four three-pointers of her own.

The Axewomen had 24 points from beyond the arc in the first half to lead 44-30 at halftime.

Saunders had 17 points and Haley MacDonald (Port Williams, NS) netted 10 for Acadia in the opening half. Fraser and Kira Atherley (Lasalle, ON) each scored seven for the X-Women.

The Axewomen went to work in the third quarter and outscored the home squad 24-10 as they lead 68-41 after three. The fourth quarter was closer at 15-13 for Acadia but the deficit to large for the X-Women to overcome.

Saunders finished the night with a game-high 22 points and had seven rebounds as she earned Subway player of the game honours.

MacDonald scored 18 and Sarah Delorey (Elmsdale, NS) added 11 and had five boards.

For the X-Women, Atherley with the player of the game with 13 points and four rebounds. Katie Upham (North River, NS) scored nine for the X-Women and had three steals wile Fraser netted eight points.

The same two teams will be back in action on Saturday night as they meet for home and home games this week, tipping off in Wolfville, NS at 6:00 pm.

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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics