X-Women survive scare from host V-Reds, advance to AUS final

(FREDERICTON, N.B.) – In Saturday night`s second semifinal at the 2013 Subway AUS women's basketball championship, the second-seeded StFX X-Women defeated the sixth-seeded and host UNB Varsity Reds by a score of 74-63.

With the win the X-Women advance to Sunday`s championship final at 2:00 pm against the top-seeded and CIS No. 4-ranked Saint Mary's Huskies. The Huskies defeated the Memorial Sea-Hawks 68-59 in the earlier semifinal.

StFX Subway player of the game Lia St. Pierre led the X-Women with a game-high 27 points. The senior forward also had five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Rachel Cleary was named the Subway player of the game for the Varsity Reds with 13 points and six rebounds.

The game was tightly contested for the first three quarters with UNB holding leads of 24-22 after the first quarter and 40-36 at halftime.

The X-Women outscored the V-Reds 19-14 in the third quarter to take slight 55-54 edge after 30 minutes of play.

The X-Women rallied in the fourth quarter and outlasted the Varsity Reds 19-9 en route to the victory.

StFX built up a 10-point lead with less than five minutes to play and played solid defense down the stretch to maintain that margin until the final buzzer.

X-Women head coach Augy Jones commented, "I am very proud of the team, for us to get to the AUS final in my first year is a testament to the type of players we have on the team and the coaching staff. We have a big game tomorrow and I am proud of them for getting as far as we have gotten. We are really excited about tomorrow and hopefully StFX will be cheering us on."

Jones mentioned the efforts of Lia St Pierre.

"She is outstanding and had a great game today. We needed her today and she did a great job rebounding, she passed the ball when she needed to, and she made big shots when she needed to."

Along with St. Pierre's 25 points, second-year guard Vanessa Pickard scored 18 points and had five rebounds and five assists.

Kolbi Roper chipped in with eight points and Lindsay Lessard scored seven.

Third year UNB wing Claire Colborne led the game in rebounds, with eight, and also scored 14 points. Laura Fowler added nine.

The X-Women shot 40.3% from the floor, including 51.5% in the second half. The Varsity Reds were 30.9% from field goal range.

The championship tournament continues Sunday with the championship game scheduled for 2:00 pm at the Richard Currie Center in Fredericton as the Saint Mary's Huskies take on the X-Women.

Both the X-Women and Huskies only hold one AUS title apiece dating back to 1952. The X-Women claimed their championship banner in 1997, while the Huskies' lone title dates back to 1977.

In regular season play this season Saint Mary's held a 3-1 record over StFX, though the X-Women handed the Huskies only their second loss of the season on the final day of AUS play.

All games of the 2013 Subway AUS Women's Basketball Championship are available live online at: www.austv.ca

Source: UNB Sports Information
Photo courtesy of Zack McKillop