Axewomen sweep weekend at Memorial

ST. JOHN'S, NL - The Acadia Axewomen defeated the Memorial Sea-Hawks 70-61 on Sunday afternoon in AUS women's basketball action from the Field House, sweeping the two game weekend in Newfoundland.

The first half saw Acadia up 20-13 after 10 minutes, and they extended the lead at halftime to 17 points, by outscoring the Sea-Hawks 15-5 in the second frame.

Memorial battled back hard in the third quarter and cut the lead to 15 points going into the fourth. Memorial was then able to get within 6 points of the Axewomen with 3 minutes remaining in the game. Acadia regrouped in the final few minutes with some clutch foul shooting paired with great team defense.

Memorial's Sydney Stewart lead all scorers with 23 points and also hauled down 8 rebounds. Sydney Ezekiel finished with 11 points and 5 rebounds in the loss.

Chanel Smith paced the Axewomen with a double-double, adding 12 points and 10 rebounds in the win, while Paloma Anderson, had 22 points and 9 assists. Alexandra Berry scored an efficient 10 points on 4 of 5 shots from the field, as well as going 2 of 3 from the foul line.

The Axewomen's sweep of the Sea-Hawks comes after their lackluster performance at the Thunder Selects Holiday Classic in late December. After topping the CIS No. 7 ranked Brock Badgers, Acadia dropped two games in a row.

"It was good to get out of a tough environment here with two 4 point wins", said Axewomen head coach Len Harvey who noted that both games were worth four points each in the AUS standings. "We had some adversity to deal with, but I thought we played very well at certain points. We still need work on the defensive end, but we are seeing progress."

Memorial falls to 1-9 (4 points) and holds the eight spot in the standings. The Sea-Hawks are currently sitting 4 points out of the last playoff spot.

With the sweep, Acadia remains undefeated on the season and picks up another 8 points in the standings. The Axewomen are one of only two teams in the CIS who are undefeated.

Memorial travels to Halifax, NS next weekend to take on the Saint Mary's Huskies, while Acadia stays on the road and visits UPEI.

Provided by MUN Athletics