Female Sea-Hawks dominate Axewomen

The Memorial University women’s basketball team opened their season this past weekend with two games in the Field House, playing host to the Acadia University Axewomen for a two game set. On Saturday night, it was the Axewomen who were able to capitalize early, taking a five point lead into the second quarter. Memorial made sure to turn it up a notch in the second quarter with Vicki Thistle and Grace Fishbein playing key roles for the Sea-Hawks as they took a slight seven point lead into the half. Acadia kept a close game with Memorial, holding them to a three point lead after three quarters. Despite shooting a dismal 62 per cent at the free-throw line, the Sea-Hawks held on for an 87-86 victory. Grace Fishbein led the way with 21 points and Thistle chipped in with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Senior point-guard Erin Mullaley was the HITS FM Player of the Game for the Sea-Hawks. The two teams took to the court again on Sunday, the Sea-Hawks hungry to open the season with the home sweep. The teams played a closer defensive game, with the Sea-Hawks coming out on top 72-67. Brittany Dalton scored 18 points and 9 rebounds for the HITS FM Player of the Game honour and Vicki Thistle added another 11 points and 10 rebounds in the win. On the men’s court, the Sea-Hawks also hosted Acadia for a two-game weekend set. Unfortunately, the men didn’t see the same success as the women, as they dropped two to the Axemen. On Saturday, Steven Earles set the pace for the Sea-Hawks early with a big two-handed dunk to give his team the lead. Rookie guard Mike Helsby also impressed in his home debut putting the Sea-Hawks up 21-17 after one. Struggling with consistency, the Sea-Hawks fell victim to a strong Acadia offense and found themselves trailing 42-49 at the half. Despite a strong third-quarter run, the Sea-Hawks dropped their home opener 93-80. Helsby’s 24 points earned him the HITS FM player of the game and Steven Earles played a great aggressive game, shooting 14 for 16 from the free-throw line and finished with 26 points. On Sunday, the Sea-Hawks started with a bang, pounding out a large 19 point lead early in the game. Steven Earles, again, played well, netting 14 in the first half. Sea-Hawks defense also started the game well, holding the Axemen to a 26.0 per cent from the field and a 36.4 per cent free throw percentage in the first half. Slowly but surely, Acadia started climbing back into the game in the third, narrowing the gap to a mere 10 points heading into the fourth and final quarter. With 17 seconds left, Acadia’s Casey Fox nailed two free throws to give the Axemen the lead, their first since the game’s opening seconds. After Memorial’s Jason Shepherd missed one of his two free throws that would have clinched them the game, Acadia’s Casey Fox accepted the in-bounds pass at mid-court, nailing an off-balance jumper with only a tick left on the clock to put Acadia ahead for good, 65-64. Steven Earles was the HITS FM Player of the Game for his 17 points 7 rebound effort.

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