(ANTIGONISH, NS) The UNB REDS defeated the St FX X-Women 55-43 Saturday night in Atlantic University Sport action, in a second half comeback victory, in Antigonish.
The game marked the first action for the REDS since November 27th, as the team was impacted by COVID-19 over the past couple weeks and had to delay their return to AUS competition.
"It was great being back and having the opportunity to play," said REDS post Katie Butts (Ottawa, ON), named Subway Player of the Game. "It's been a tough ride having all these stops and pauses but we came back strong in tonight's game."
Butts scored eight points and pulled in game-high 12 rebounds for the REDS, who trailed the X-Women 29-28 at halftime. They turned the game around in the second half.
"We really played together, we had great team defense, great team offense and brought it all back together in that second half," said Butts.
It was the X-Women who got out to the early lead. Jaya D'Souza (Brampton, ON) hit a three-pointer mid-way through the opening quarter to give the X-Women a 7-2 advantage. They upped that lead to 16-11 at the end of the quarter.
The REDS came back in the second frame and closed the gap, tying it up at 22 with four minutes to play.
Kylee Speedy (Fredericton, NB) drained a three-pointer to pull to within one, 26-25 with a minute left in the half. X veteran guard Kim Kingsbury (Nepean, ON) replied with a three of her own as the X-Women held a slim 29-28 lead at halftime.
Both Kingsbury and Briar MacDonald (Antigonish, NS) scored nine points in the first half for X, while Speedy led the REDS with eight.
UNB came out more aggressively in the third quarter and outscored the X-Women 17-4. Jennifer Nkuah (Brampton, ON) was strong in the paint for UNB on both offense and defense, pulling in rebounds as the REDS defense was strong in holding the X-Women to only four points in the quarter.
UNB held a 45-33 lead after three.
X chipped into the REDS lead to start the final quarter, scoring the first five points of the frame. Both teams then struggled to score and the REDS held onto a ten-point advantage for the majority of the quarter.
The visitors were up by eight points, 51-43 with a minute to play and they closed out the game with the 55-43 victory.
It was a well-balanced scoring effort for UNB as Speedy finished with 10 points and Katie McAffee (Lower Knoxford, NB) with nine. Nkuah had 11 rebounds and Erin Ingalls (St. George, NB) contributed nine.
For the X-Women, MacDonald led the team in scoring with 11 points and seven rebounds. Kingsbury scored 10 and added six rebounds.
The X-Women struggled from field goal range, shooting 22.9% as they are still in search of their first win of 2022, dropping to 2-10 on the season.
The REDS improve to 4-6.
The teams will be back in action Sunday afternoon to conclude the weekend series. Tip-off is at 2:00pm.
RECAP BY: Krista McKenna/STFX Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Trish Balcom/for STFX Athletics