Axewomen sweep season openers in Cape Breton

SYDNEY, N.S. - The Cape Breton University Capers dropped a hard-fought 88-86 decision to the visiting Acadia Axewomen in the opening game of the AUS women's basketball regular season Friday and captured an overtime win on Saturday evening.

Paloma Anderson hit a pair of free throws with 1.6 seconds left in regulation and Acadia outscored the Capers 21-12 in the fourth quarter to give the visitors the win.

Colleen Keane led the Capers offence with 25 points and eight rebounds. Valentina Primossi added 18 points and Alison Keough 14 points for the home side.

Chanel Smith had a game-high 28 points for the Axewomen while Anderson finished with 26 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Axewomen head coach Len Harvey pointed out a need for a young team to be consistent. "We were terrible defensively in the first half, but the girls really showed some resilience and did a much better job of defending their actions after halftime. They were far more composed in the second half, but had a large hole to dig out of after the first 20 minutes. I was quite happy with our determination and attitude to finish the game. We are all still learning more about each other as individuals and growing as a team, so it was nice to get the win tonight." 

Down by nine after the first quarter, the Caper lead grew to as high as 16 after one half, but a jumper by Palamoa Anderson at 6:37 of the third quarter closed the lead to 10. By the end of the third frame, Acadia had narrowed the lead to only seven points. A fourth quarter turn-around set the tone for eventual narrow win over Cape Breton.

The following night the Capers dropped a 76-70 decision in overtime to the 2-0 Axewomen.

The Capers had a halftime lead of 44-31 before Acadia stormed back to force the contest to an overtime period.

In the extra frame, the visitors outscored the hosts 11-5 to record their second straight come-from-behind victory. On Friday, the Capers squandered a 16-point halftime lead as they lost 88-86 to the Acadia women.

Acadia's Paloma Anderson scored 31 points in the Saturday win, while teammate Chanel Smith chipped in with 17 points.

The top CBU scorer was Jalynn Skeir with 22 points.

Alison Keough scored 17, while Raskeeka Gunn added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Colleen Keane recorded a game-high 13 rebounds, seven of them on the defensive end.

The Capers will host rival StFX Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Sullivan Fieldhouse, while the Axewomen head to StFX on Friday, November 13 at 6pm.