UPDATED: No. 1 seeds Acadia, St. F.X. win, advance to Sunday’s AUS Final 6 championships
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Sometimes the good teams find the will to win even when they’re not at their best.
The No. 1 and defending champion Acadia Axewomen secured her berth in the AUS Final 6 basketball championship for the sixth straight season after beating the UNB Reds 77-69 in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon at the Scotiabank Center.
Acadia shot just 38 percent from the field, made just three of 13 three-point attempts and was passed 40-33. There were 35 turnovers between teams. But led by conference MVP Haley McDonald — who scored 21 points and had nine rebounds — the Axewomen prevailed.
“Obviously we’re happy to get to the final, but it wasn’t a full game for us. It was clunky at times,” said Acadia head coach Len Harvey. “I didn’t think we defended as well as we can. But full credit to UNB, they made a great game. They sifted really hard and rebounded like crazy. We haven’t done a great job in this area. But we’ve done enough to get away from here, so we’ll fix it tonight and be ready tomorrow.”
Acadia meets the No. 2 Saint Mary’s Huskies in the championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday
Former Acadia star Jayda Veinot had 18 points and 12 rebounds for UNB.
Sarah Delorey added 19 points for the Axewomen. Sami Russell came off the bench and had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. The ex-Dartmouth Spartans star saw more time on the ground after Elizabeth Beals-Iseyemi, a two-time AUS All-Star, ran into dire first-half trouble.
“We defended well, Lizzy was out for most of the first half,” said Harvey. “Foul trouble hurts our defense a lot. But as the game progressed, the legs picked up speed and shots were fired. We’ll see if we can keep them grounded tomorrow.”
Huskies 67, Panthers 60: With a 40-28 lead at halftime, Saint Mary’s stuttered early in the third quarter and saw third-placed UPEI climb to three.
Undaunted, Alaina McMillan took over.
The Huskies All-Star guard dumped a pair of threes to restore SMU’s double-digit lead en route to a game-high 18 points and Player of the Game honors.
“I’m a shooter and coaches keep telling me to shoot,” McMillan said in her fourth year. “Knowing that they have faith in me gives me the confidence to keep shooting.
“It came down to trusting ourselves, trusting each other, trusting our shot and staying disciplined,” McMillan said of the Huskies’ third-quarter doldrums. “We got into their main actors and I think we did a pretty good job on that.
“We understand this game is a running game. They’ll get shots, they’ll get calls, it was just a matter of believing in ourselves and staying disciplined. If we focus on playing good defence, good things will happen.”
AUS Defensive Player of the Year Clara Gascoigne had 13 points, six rebounds, five blocks and five steals for SMU.
Lauren Rainford accumulated 13 points and five rebounds for the Panthers, while younger sister Aiden Rainford had a dozen points and 10 boards.
Saint Mary’s will be seeking its first conference title since winning four straight from 2013 to 2016.
“Acadia is a great team and Haley McDonald is great so winning her would be great,” McMillan said.
In the first men’s quarterfinals on Saturday:
X-Men 94, Capers 68: No. 1 seed St. FX was dominant in their loss at Cape Breton.
The X-Men, who are hosting the U Sports Final 8 Championship in Halifax two weeks from now, scored 60 points in the first half and received contributions from up and down the lineup. They meet the No. 2 UPEI Panthers at 4:30 p.m. Sunday
“This game certainly helped with our confidence,” said Avan Nava, St. FX’s veteran guard. “Our defense was pretty good. We did what we preach in the film, so we did a pretty good job today.
“We want to go into the national championship as AUS champions. It is our first goal. We have to focus on our team defense tomorrow to get the job done.”
Dondre Reddick accumulated 25 points to lead the X-Men. AUS Defensive Player of the Year David Muenkat had 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Graduation guard Osman Omar responded with 20 points in his last varsity game.
Panther 80, Tiger 65: The league MVP rose to the occasion and the defending champions were dethroned.
Elijah Miller dropped half a dozen three-pointers as part of a stellar 30-point performance as UPEI defeated Dal in a repeat of last year’s AUS Finals.
“Elijah is a special player and you can’t get to the finals without special players,” said UPEI head coach Darrell Glenn. “He has been to us since he walked onto campus.
“The thing about Elijah is not just that he’s a great scorer, he makes the players around him better. He is our engine and we will get on his back and ride him while he can.”
Up one at halftime, UPEI surpassed Dal 30-13 in the third quarter.
Dakell Brooks had 15 points and Kamari Scott added 14 and 12 rebounds for the Panthers.
With St. FX hosting the U Sports Men’s Basketball Championship, UPEI has earned a spot in the March 10-12 national tournament.
But the Panthers don’t look beyond Sunday. They are looking for their first conference banner in men’s tires since 2003.
“(St. FX) gives us a lot of problems in terms of matchups,” Glenn said. “We’re going to come up with a game plan where we can attack and use some of our advantages.”
Joshua Koulamallah and Shamar Burrows each had 14 points for the Tigers.