Pickard leads the way as X-Women down Huskies

The StFX X-Women earned a 94-76 victory over the Saint Mary’s Huskies in AUS women’s basketball action Saturday night in Antigonish, NS in what was the final game of the regular season for both teams.  X-Women freshman Vanessa Pickard, currently fourth overall in AUS scoring, poured in a season high 35 points to pace the blue and white.

The first quarter was neck-and-neck as the score was 23-22 in Saint Mary’s favor after ten minutes.  Both teams were connecting on most of their opportunities as the pace was high out of the gate. The score was continued to rise in the second quarter but the X-Women were able to take control as they outscored the Huskies 27-19. Pickard had 16 points after two quarters while Naomi Fequiere had 7 for the Huskies. The score was 50-41 for the X-Women at halftime.

In the third quarter the X-Women outscored the Huskies 22-13 as they were able to pull away from Saint Mary’s and command a decisive 72-54 lead after three quarters of play. The fourth frame was even as each team scored 22 points, leaving the X-Women in the driver’s seat with a 94-76 victory. Pickard collected 19 points in the last half including a trio of three-point buckets in the fourth quarter alone. Fequiere collected 10 points in the second half for Saint Mary’s.

The Huskies were without AUS leading scorer Justine Colley who was nursing an injury. X-Women post Kirsten Jones was also out of the lineup due to injury.

In addition to her 35 points, Subway Player of the Game Vanessa Pickard collected five rebounds, a pair of assists, two blocks and two steals in the game for the X-Women. Jocelyn Moore and Donisha Young provided some solid secondary scoring for the X-Women, as Moore scored 14 points and also had six assists, while Young posted a double-double game with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Rebecca Sheehan added 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and five steals for StFX.

Replying for the Huskies was Fequiere with 17 points, while Laura Langille scored 14 and Shannon Chapman had 11. Stephanie Clarke added 10 points for Saint Mary’s.

Looking at the numbers, the X-Women shot 48.5% from field goal range, 52.9% from the three point line and 67.9% from the free throw line.  The Huskies were 41% from field goal range, 35.7% from the three point line and 77.8% from the free throw line.

Next weekend the Subway AUS Women’s Basketball Championship will take place in Antigonish, NS with the fifth place X-Women (10-10) as the host squad. The X-Women will face the fourth place Memorial Sea-Hawks (10-10) in the first quarterfinal game Friday evening, March 2nd at 6:00 pm, followed by the second quarterfinal at 8:00 pm featuring the third place Huskies (12-8) and the sixth place Dalhousie Tigers (8-12). First place Acadia (17-3) and second place Cape Breton (15-5) await the quarterfinal winners for semi-final match-ups on Saturday evening, as they each earned first round playoff byes. The championship game is slated for Sunday at 2:00 pm. All games will take place at the StFX Oland Centre. For ticket information and further details on the championship, click here.