Opening up 2016 the Women’s basketball team hosted the Mount Allison Mounties losing 56-37 and STU Tommie’s falling short once again 40-51 ending 0-2 on the first weekend out of the holiday break.
In the first game, featuring UNB Saint John Seawolves taking on the Mount Allison Mounties, Sarah McGeachy led the charge for the Mounties leading all scorers with 13 points and a pair of steals for the game.
“Entering this game basic rotations offensive and defensively spacing the floor were the keys to this win” said Mounties head coach, Matt Gamblin.
The Seawolves ended the first quarter down 7-16 and give-aways fuelled the Mounties in the second quarter winning the battle of turnovers 21-6.
At half the Seawolves continued to trail 19-28, however Kenya Plut came up big for the Seawolves, scoring 8 and grabbing 4 rebounds, from off the bench.
Over the course of the game the Mounties slightly edged UNBSJ in field goal percentage shooting 30% while UNBSJ shot 27% from the field.
At the end of the game Gamblin spoke about the win stating.
“It was a frustrating game. (Saint John) responded near the end but we need to play a bit better. Adversity will come I’ve told the girls and we have to overcome that as the season goes on.”
Entering the second game on the weekend double header the Saint Thomas University Tommie’s defeated the home-court Seawolves in a close match resulting in a final score of 51-40.
Seawolves assistant coach, Brad Van Steeg, said their keys to the game were, “defense and respect, don’t fear your opponent. We are a young team, don’t be afraid to take it to them and attack the basket and that’s what kind of team we were today.”
Bench points were a large contributor in this match-up as the Tommie’s overcame the Seawolves second line 22- 15.
Tommie’s guard, Carissa Mctague, had an all-around game obtaining a “double – double”, which consists of obtaining double digits in two of five statistical categories, in this case with 14 points, and 13 rebounds.
From the UNBSJ side, guard Sara Simkins pitched in with 10 points, shooting 4-10 from the floor, along with 6 rebounds.
Assistant coach for the Seawolves, Brad Van Steeg, spoke about the game saying, “our main focus was on the defensive end of the court. Keeping teams under 55 points is key in this league, both the Mounties and Tommie’s are offensive based teams and the girls are working as a unit to keep the score close and or low.”
The Seawolves now drop to 1-7 entering the second half of the season and will look to regroup. The 6-1 Holland College Hurricanes visit UNBSJ for the Think Pink weekend on Sunday, January 17, tip-off at 3pm.
