ST. JOHN'S, NL - In the second game of the weekend the Memorial Sea-Hawks took a 60-54 win after an intense and close game with the STFX X-Women.
To open up the game, STFX's Katie Upham netted a basket after two previous tries by her teammates. The Sea-Hawks responded with a jump shot right outside the key to gain their first basket of the game. Memorial found consistency in the key where they gained 11 quick points to force the X-Women into a timeout.
A fast paced game resulted in a quick four fouls for the X-Women. Brooke LeDevehat helped the Sea-Hawks to their 21-14 lead to end the first quarter with two three-pointers.
STFX's Shannon Neita opened the scoring in the second quarter with two hard contested layups to help close the gap to 23-18. Both squads continued to play a back and forth game showing strong defense on both sides.
Upham was able to bring her team to a two-point lead with four minutes left in the quarter. The X-Women found their pace and were able to hold the Sea-Hawks to only six points seven minutes into the quarter. The X-Women closed the gap to one at half with the help of Upham who gained eight consecutive points, bringing the score to 33-32.
Dominating the boards was Upham who came out of the first half with 11 points. Following her lead was Ekaterina Karchevskaya who captured eight points for the X side. For Memorial, Rebecka Ekström found herself leading the half with seven points. Not far behind was LeDevehat scoring six.
Memorial's Laura Murray netted a three-pointer and a jump shot to help the Sea-Hawks gain some points early in the third quarter. Memorial was able to crawl away from the X-Women through baskets from all over the roster. Nearing the end of the quarter, Sea-Hawks Alana Short shone, making three foul throws to add to the board.
The X-Women were able to grab the majority of rebounds under both the offensive and defensive nets but were unable to convert on many attacking chances. The third quarter came to an end with MUN leading 50-42.
The final quarter began with the X-Women battling hard to get themselves back in the game, scoring nine successful points to gain the lead before the Sea-Hawks could sink a basket. Memorial seemed to panic with the lead, providing an abundance of turnovers into the hands of the X-Women.
Short netted three foul throws to give MUN the lead once again and the game was close at 57-54 before Hannah Green netted two late free throws along with one from LeDevehat to put the game out of reach for the X-Women, wrapping up the 60-54 final score.
The top scorer of the game came from STFX's Upham who scored 16 points on the night. Karchevskaya captured 10 points for the X-Women.
On the other bench Short was the top scoring player for the Sea-Hawks, netting 14 points. Following her was Ekström and LeDevehat with 10 and 9 points respectively.
The Sea-Hawks will be on the road to take on Acadia University on November 17th and 18th. The X-Women next see action on Friday, November 17th when they host Dalhousie.
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Recap courtesy Memorial Athletics