X-Women sweep Sea-Hawks in AUS basketball action

(ANTIGONISH,  N.S.) - The StFX X-Women improved to 6-7 on the regular season with a pair of weekend home court wins over the Memorial Sea-Hawks (5-7) in AUS basketball play at Oland Centre in Antigonish.

"It means a lot. It helps put us in a great position in the fight for second place in the conference," X-Women head coach Augy Jones said in a post-game interview after his team's 71-65 win Sunday.

"We did what we wanted to do this weekend."

On Sunday, Subway Player of the Game Kolbi Roper led the X-Women with 22 points, including hitting 6-for-7 from the free throw line. She added six rebounds and one assist.

Sophomore forward Lindsay Lessard contributed 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Fifth-year guard Lia St. Pierre chipped in 12 points, six rebounds, six assists and one steal.

Junior guard Vanessa Pickard also hit double digits with 10 points, while adding five assists, three steals and three rebounds.

"There are no easy games in this league and we are continuing to learn that. We came out and did what we needed to do," Jones said, describing the two victories as "gigantic."

For the Sea-Hawks, guard Megan Robinson was the leading scorer with 15, while Sandra Amoah and Sydney Ezekiel contributed 13 points apiece.

Robinson added a game-high eight rebounds, while Amoah and Ezekiel notched four steals apiece.

The X-Women led 29-28 at the half.

Saturday evening, the blue and white outscored Memorial 44-29 in the second half en route to a 78-64 win.

Pickard, the Subway player of the game, led the offense with 19 points, while adding five assists, two rebounds and one steal.

Roper and Lessard also scored in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Lessard and St. Pierre led X with eight rebounds each.

St. Pierre added nine points, four assists and two steals.

The X-Women recorded 21 steals, including six from fifth-year guard Rebecca Sheehan, along with four apiece from Pickard and Antigonish native Melissa Gottschall.

Gottschall also scored six of StFX's 23 bench points, which came from six different reserve players.

Kayla MacIntyre had five points, while Shannon Hatch added four off the pine.

"We have to be more aggressive on defense and move the ball better," freshman post player Kimberley Taylor said at halftime of Saturday's win.  

"We are dribbling too much," she added.

Taylor, a Toronto native, had another strong effort, including three points, one rebound, one assist and one blocked shot in 14 minutes.

Amoah led the Sea-Hawks with 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Kelia Pond added 11 points, while Marika vanden Elzen and Sydney Stewart contributed seven rebounds apiece.

In a back-and-forth opening half, the X-Women had the largest lead - six points.

Pickard led the blue and white with nine points in the first 20 minutes, while Lessard chipped in six points, four assists and three steals.

The X-Women forced 14 Sea-Hawks turnovers in the opening half.

Amoah led the visitors in the first half with 11 point and six rebounds, while Pond and Robinson collected six points apiece.

Sydney Stewart, off the bench, also added six.

The X-Women return to action Friday, Jan. 31 when they host the rival Saint Mary's Huskies, the CIS no. 1-ranked team. Opening tip is set for 6 p.m. at Oland Centre.

The Sea-Hawks will host the Cape Breton Capers in back-to-back games Feb. 1 and 2. Saturday's game is set for 6 p.m. and Sunday's for 11 a.m.

Source: StFX Sports Information