UPDATED: No. 1 seeds Acadia, St. F.X. win, advance to Sunday’s AUS Remaining 6 championships
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Typically the nice groups discover the desire to win even once they’re not at their finest.
The No. 1 and defending champion Acadia Axewomen secured their spot within the AUS Remaining 6 basketball championship for a sixth consecutive season after defeating the UNB Reds 77-69 in semifinal play Saturday afternoon at Scotiabank Centre.
Acadia solely shot 38 per cent from the sector, made simply three of 13 three-point makes an attempt and was outrebounded 40-33. There have been 35 turnovers between the groups. However led by convention MVP Haley McDonald – who tallied 21 factors and had 9 rebounds – the Axewomen powered via.
“We’re clearly happy to go to the ultimate however that wasn’t an entire sport for us. It was clunky at occasions,” Acadia head coach Len Harvey mentioned. “I didn’t suppose we defended in addition to we will. However full credit score to UNB, they ran a fantastic sport. They have been screening actually onerous and rebounding like loopy. We didn’t do a fantastic job in that space. However we did sufficient to get free right here, so we’ll right it tonight and be prepared tomorrow.”
Acadia will face the No. 2 Saint Mary’s Huskies in Sunday’s championship sport at 1 p.m.
Former Acadia star Jayda Veinot had 18 factors and 12 rebounds for UNB.
Sarah Delorey added 19 factors for the Axewomen. Sami Russell got here off the bench to attain 11 factors, 5 rebounds and three assists. The ex-Dartmouth Spartans standout noticed extra ground time after Elizabeth Beals-Iseyemi, a two-time AUS all-star, bought into foul hassle within the first half.
“We defended properly with Lizzy being out for the majority of the primary half,” Harvey mentioned. “Foul hassle actually hurts our defence. However as the sport wore on, the legs began to get quicker and the pictures have been falling. We’ll see if we will preserve her on the ground tomorrow.”
Huskies 67, Panthers 60: Forward 40-28 on the half, Saint Mary’s sputtered to begin the third quarter and noticed third-seed UPEI climb to inside three.
Undaunted, that’s when Alaina McMillan took over.
The Huskies’ all-star guard drained a pair of three-pointers to revive SMU’s double-digit lead en path to a game-high 18 factors and player-of-the-game honours.
“I’m a shooter and coaches preserve telling me to shoot,” mentioned McMillan, in her fourth 12 months. “Figuring out they’ve confidence in me provides me confidence to maintain capturing.
“It got here right down to trusting ourselves, trusting one another, trusting our shot and staying disciplined,” McMillan mentioned of the Huskies’ third-quarter lull. “We keyed in on their fundamental gamers and I believe we did a reasonably respectable job in doing that.
“We perceive that this sport is a sport of runs. They’re going to get pictures, get the calls, it was only a matter of believing in ourselves and staying disciplined. If we deal with enjoying good defence, good issues are going to occur.”
AUS defensive participant of the 12 months Clara Gascoigne had 13 factors, six rebounds, 5 blocks and 5 steals for SMU.
Lauren Rainford collected 13 factors and 5 rebounds for the Panthers whereas youthful sister Aiden Rainford had a dozen factors and 10 boards.
Saint Mary’s will search its first convention title since successful 4 straight from 2013-16.
“Acadia is a superb staff and Haley McDonald is superb so getting a win over them could be nice,” McMillan mentioned.
Within the males’s first quarter-final on Saturday:
X-Males 94, Capers 68: No. 1 seed St. F.X. placed on a dominant show in its rout of Cape Breton.
The X-Males – who host the U Sports activities Remaining 8 championship in two weeks in Halifax – scored 60 first-half factors and bought contributions from up and down the lineup. They may face the No. 2 UPEI Panthers in Sunday’s championship at 4:30 p.m.
“This sport actually helped us with our confidence,” mentioned St. F.X. veteran guard Avan Nava. “Our defence was fairly good. We did what we preach in movie so we did a reasonably good job at the moment.
“We need to go into the nationwide championship as an AUS champion. It’s our first purpose. We’ll should deal with our staff defence tomorrow to get the job completed.”
Dondre Reddick collected 25 factors to steer the X-Males. AUS defensive participant of the 12 months David Muenkat had 21 factors and 14 rebounds.
Graduating guard Osman Omar answered with 20 factors in his last college sport.
Panthers 80, Tigers 65: The league MVP rose to the event and the defending champs have been dethroned.
Elijah Miller drained a half-dozen three-pointers as a part of a stellar 30-point efficiency as UPEI defeated Dal in a rematch of final 12 months’s AUS last.
“Elijah’s a particular participant and also you don’t get to the ultimate with out particular gamers,” UPEI head coach Darrell Glenn mentioned. “He’s been that for us since he stepped on campus.
“The factor about Elijah shouldn’t be solely is he a fantastic scorer, he makes gamers round him higher. He’s our engine and we’ll get on his again and trip him for so long as he can.”
Up by one at halftime, UPEI outscored Dal 30-13 within the third quarter.
Dakell Brooks had 15 factors and Kamari Scott added 14 and 12 rebounds for the Panthers.
With St. F.X. internet hosting the U Sports activities males’s basketball championship, UPEI has earned a spot within the March 10-12 nationwide event.
However the Panthers aren’t trying past Sunday. They’re looking for their first convention banner in males’s hoops since 2003.
“(St. F.X.) presents a whole lot of issues for us by way of matchups,” Glenn mentioned. “We’ll give you a sport plan the place we will assault and use a few of our benefits.”
Joshua Koulamallah and Shamar Burrows every had 14 factors for the Tigers.
