By Ethan Hunt
(Halifax, NS) - The STFX X-Women defeated the Dalhousie Tigers 70-63 on Friday night at the Dalplex.
As Laia Torrent Blanco (Cornellà de Llobregat, SP) dribbled the ball out, the X-Women put themselves in the best position they could for a playoff berth. With a CBU loss at UPEI, the X-Women are currently two points ahead of the Capers in the standings with the two squads set to play tomorrow night in Antigonish to determine the final playoff berth.
STFX's Katie Upham (North River, NS) started the scoring with an off the glass layup and Ekaterina Karchevskaya (Mogliev, BY) added two layups to have an early 6-0 lead.
Kaitlyn Ferrier (Calgary, AB) took her defender off the dribble and sank a midrange basket to get Dalhousie on the board and Katie Wuotila (Calgary, AB) caught fire from three point land late in the quarter when she splashed two quick threes to bring the lead down to 12-9.
STFX scored on four straight possessions capped off when Torrent Blanco banked in a layup at the buzzer to up their lead to 23-13 heading into the second.
Upham kept the scoring onslaught going for the X-Women when she drained a three out of the break, but two three-pointers by Ferrier and Wuotila to nine.
Kristine Cooper (Hamilton, ON) stole the inbound pass and scored an and-one layup, then after a Tigers turnover, Karchevskaya made a long midrange shot to take the wind out of Dalhousie's sail.
Sydney Guker-Wickie's (Kitchner, ON) layup took a roll around the rim and a bank off the backboard to bring the lead down to 36-21 with four minutes remaining, but an and-one floater by Torrent Blanco erased Guker-Wickie's layup.
When the buzzer rang the score was 46-21 in favour of STFX.
Shannon Neita's (Toronto, ON) midrange and Emma Ward's (Moncton, NB) three-pointer were the only baskets from the field for the first three minutes, as both defences gave little room for scoring opportunity.
Both offences found a grove started by a Neita midrange and a Mali Straker (Yellowknife, NT) three-pointer for STFX, which Ferrier answered with a made layup and a corner three.
Sarah Valley (Regina, SK) and Eva Widmeyer (Dartmouth, NS) each sank threes to narrow the lead to 58-37 heading into the fourth quarter.
Ferrier scooped in two layups and Anna Parsons (Calgary, AB) hit a catch and shoot triple to continue the comeback for the Tigers.
Wuotila knocked down her fourth three of the night which brought the lead down to 62-49 and forced the X-Women to talk it over.
Parsons nailed a triple to bring the lead down to 10, but with four minutes remaining Neita swiped away Simona Matic's layup attempt, which silence the DAL crowd.
After Parsons banked in a layup, Ferrier caught the ball and instantly launched a three pointer, and celebrated to the crowd after she made the bucket. Ferrier's three narrowed the X-Women lead to five.
STFX made free throw after free throw and when Karchevskaya grabbed an offensive rebound, the comeback chances were over with a 70-63 win for the X-Women.
Dalhousie's season concluded with the loss and STFX will play one more regular season game at home tomorrow night against Cape Breton. The AUS championship will take place next weekend, February 23-25 in Halifax at the Scotiabank Centre. Tickets are on sale now at AUSHoops.ca.