By Jack Longo
The Acadia Axewomen Women's Basketball team defeated the Dalhousie Tigers at Dalplex on Saturday night. The win for the Axewomen in the four-point game moved them into a tie for third place in the AUS Women's Basketball standings.
The Axewomen got off to a hot start in the first quarter, scoring the first 14 points of the game and limiting Dalhousie's ability to get into their offensive rhythm. Acadia looked to push the pace in transition, and were able to thanks to their stifling defence in the quarter which forced eight Dalhousie turnovers.
After starting the game down 14-0, Katie Crombeen (Calgary, AB) scored back-to-back buckets for the Tigers to get their scoring started. However, the Axewomen would continue their scorching shooting from behind the arc and grew the lead before the quarter ended. Acadia would finish the quarter with five three's on 45% shooting and lead 23-9 after the first quarter.
Acadia continued to move the ball well on offense to start the second quarter and found players cutting off the ball multiple times, disorganizing Dalhousie's defence. The Axewomen started the quarter on a 6-2 run and forced Dalhousie to call a timeout with only two minutes gone in the quarter.
Whereas Acadia's offense in the first half was patient to find the open shooter, often swinging the ball around the perimeter and eventually attacking the close out, Dalhousie was effective in feeding the post players and letting them go to work against their defender. Chloe Wilson (Dartmouth, NS) and Lia Kentzler (Gottingen, Germany) in particular proved difficult to deal with down low. Additionally, the pick and roll started to work for the Tigers, with Madeleine Maillet (Moncton, NB) showing a good roll to the hoop and finish to make the score 31-15 and help jumpstart the Tigers run to end the quarter.
As a team Dalhousie turned up their defensive intensity and tightened up their offense to close the second quarter. The Tigers went on a 10-0 run in the last five and a half minutes to narrow Acadia's advantage heading into halftime. At the end of the first half the Axewomen would lead 34-26.
Jayda Veinot (Port Williams, NS) would finish the first half with 12 points to lead all scorers and help the Axewomen build their lead in the first half.
The third quarter was the first evenly-contested quarter of the game with the Tigers only gaining a slight advantage on the scoreboard.
After the halftime break, both teams came out ready to play defence. There were no easy shots for either side as both the Axewomen and the Tigers caused turnovers and moved their feet on defence.
The teams started to score a bit more easily as the quarter wore on, with the Tigers again focusing on getting the ball into the paint to score and Acadia relying on their teamwork on offense to score their points.
A late bucket by Wilson made it 46-40 for Acadia heading into the fourth quarter.
Acadia started the fourth quarter with more energy than their opponents, highlighted by Elizabeth Iseyemi's (Dartmouth, NS) hard work on the glass and soft touch around the hoop which helped build the Axewomen's lead.
The Axewomen went on a 8-0 run to widen the lead to 60-44 with four minutes left. Dalhousie subsequently called a timeout but the Axewomen continued to grow the lead from there.
After a hard-fought fourth quarter and game overall, Acadia came away with a 66-45 win and moved up in the standings thanks to a victory in the four-point game.
Sandy Saunders (Woodstock, NB) was the Subway Player of the Game, finishing with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists for the Axewomen.
Dalhousie's Lia Kentzler finished with eight points and eight rebounds for the Tigers.
This was the last match for both teams before the winter break.
Dalhousie will return to action on January 7th with a trip to Charlottetown to play UPEI. Tip-off is at 6pm.
Acadia's first match after the break will also be on January 7th at 6pm when they travel to Halifax to play the Saint Mary's Huskies.