Axewomen Rally Past V-Reds

(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB Varsity Reds held the country's number one team in check for more than three quarters.

But, the U SPORTS No. 1 ranked Acadia Axewomen surged into the lead midway through the fourth quarter and never relinquished it.

Acadia beat the V-Reds 70-64.

UNB's Hannah Currie(Collingwood, ON) led all scorers with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

The double-double earned Currie Subway Player of the Game honours.

Paloma Anderson(Phoenix, AZ) led Acadia. She scored 22 points.

"That's a team that you can't have mistakes with, and they absolutely capitalized on everything we did wrong," said Currie. "Coming into this year, that was a game that we wanted, and that we should've won. Unfortunately, we couldn't get it done."

The Varsity Reds led by three after one quarter and stretched that to a 33-24 lead at the half.

But the Axewomen were a different team in the second.

Acadia's shooting improved dramatically in the third and fourth quarters.

"We had to take a deep breath," said Acadia's Chanel Smith(Halifax, NS). "We didn't have a lot of shots falling in the first half. We had to trust ourselves and trust our shots. That was the main thing in the second."

Smith scored 11 points for the Axewomen, while Alexandra Berry(Yarmouth, NS) had 17.

"We know UNB is a really good team, we weren't surprised," said Smith. "Every time we come here we have a good game with them."

Acadia outscored UNB 26-14 in the fourth quarter, earning their eighth win in eight Atlantic University Sport games.

The Varsity Reds are now 5-4 through nine games.

"With all due respect to Acadia, they didn't win, we lost," said Varsity Reds head coach Jeff Speedy. "They looked like a team that knows how to win. We looked like a team that's still trying to figure out how to win."

Laura Kaye(Fredericton, NB) was the only other Varsity Red to score in double figures. She had 17.

The UNB bench contributed just 12 points.

"It's bitter to lose that," said Currie. "Our mindset coming into this was… we're beating the number one team. That was our goal."

Acadia will put its perfect record on the line again Wednesday, when they visit St FX.

The Varsity Reds hit the road next weekend for a pair of games, Friday and Saturday, at Cape Breton University.

RECAP AND PHOTOS BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics