X-Women fall to Huskies in AUS final

FREDERICTON - The 2013 Subway AUS women’s basketball championship final saw the top seeded Saint Mary’s Huskies defeat the second seed StFX X-Women 90-57. The Huskies claim the AUS title after an 18-2 regular season and will move on to the CIS Final 8 in Regina, Sask. next weekend.

Subway player of the game for the Huskies was AUS regular season MVP, Justine Colley who dominated at both ends, scoring a game-high 30 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. The Huskies also got big contributions from Naomie Fequiere who scored 16, Laura Langille with 11, and Lindsay Panchan who helped out with 17 off the bench.

Subway player of the game from StFX was Fredericton native Rebecca Sheehan with 9 points. Lia St. Pierre led the X-Women with 14 points, second year post Kolbi Roper chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds, while Vanessa Pickard scored nine.

StFX raced out of the gate jumping to a 6-2 lead early but Saint Mary’s weathered the storm and the score was tied at 19 after the first quarter. For StFX, St. Pierre and Pickard were both in foul trouble early picking up two fouls a piece in the opening frame. The Huskies were frustrated early by StFX’s 2-3 zone defense, but settled in nicely to keep the game tight.

In a very physical second quarter, Saint Mary’s started to connect from the outside and established their dominance on defense. The Huskies took a 46-30 lead into the halftime break. Saint Mary’s was led by Panchan who scored 13 points off the bench while Colley started to find her rhythm, scoring 11. The X-Women were paced by St. Pierre who scored nine points in limited action due to foul trouble.

In the third quarter, Saint Mary’s stretched their lead to 26 points at 75-49. StFX seemed to have no answer for the top-ranked Huskies as they buried shots from outside and stifled the X-Women defensively. Colley proved why she was the regular season MVP, scoring 26 points and pulling down eight rebounds through the first three quarters.

The fourth quarter proved much as the same as Saint Mary’s stretched the lead to more than 30 points and both benches were emptied with roughly four minutes on the clock.

Saint Mary’s guard Justine Colley added to her already impressive season resume by being named the 2013 Subway AUS women’s basketball championship most valuable player. The AUS tournament all-stars were as follows:

Lia St. Pierre, StFX
Lindsay Panchan, Saint Mary's
Grace Fishbein, Memorial
Claire Colbourne, UNB
Naomie Fequiere, Saint Mary's