Colborne connects for 35 points

Claire Colborne drained 35 points for the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds en route to an 83-61 victory over the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers on Friday night. The Reds sophomore was monstrous for the home squad at the Richard J. Currie Center, leading a dominant second-half charge with strong two-way play.

'When's she like that, she's phenomenal,' said UNB head coach Jeff Speedy. 'We need her to keep doing that.' Colborne went 14-for-19 from the floor with nine rebounds and four assists in 31 minutes of action.

'It's her defensive rebounding and her assists that change everything,' Speedy said. 'If she's going to penetrate and jump, stop and kick and make the odd shot here and there, that totally changes how we are offensively.' After trailing 39-38 at halftime, Colborne kicked off the half with strong drives in the paint, drawing attention from the Panthers defence. With the eyes on Colborne, players like Jordanne Holstein were left open and ready to capitalize.

Holstein picked up nine of her 11 points in the form of three daggers from downtown, with the final one capping off a 12-0 run in third quarter to put UNB ahead 71-51.

'We did all the core things we needed to do, which was rebounding, playing together, boxing out, defence and we got the victory,' Colborne said.

The win marks two straight for the Reds (3-6) - the first time the club managed to string together consecutive victories this season. The Panthers fell to 1-8.

'It's going to give us energy for (tonight's) game and hopefully into a playoff spot coming up,' Colborne said.

It was far from total domination, however. Mental lapses and poor defence could have been the downfall for the Reds if it wasn't for Colborne's 22-point first-half performance.

'I was really disappointed with our effort and I was really disappointed with what I thought was selfish basketball being played,' Speedy said. 'I thought emotionally and mentally we were really terrible in the first half.' The coach needed to choose his words carefully in the intermission.

'There's 12 games left. It's gutcheck time and I thought there was a lot of negative thoughts and stuff being said and we reverted to that in the first half,' he said.

Suffice it to say, the message stuck. The Reds were aggressive in attacking the basket, but even more so on defence, causing turnovers, boxing out the Panthers and snagging rebounds.

UPEI's offence was all but shut down, shooting 20 per cent from the floor and 9.1 per cent from beyond the arc in the second half.

'To their credit, they really played together and played exactly how we want them to in the second half,' said Speedy.

Emma Russell chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds in the important four-point win, while Melissa Foster posted six points and six boards for the Reds as well.

Laura Power scored 14 and Amy Gough 12 for the Panthers.

UNB has a date with the Acadia Axewomen (6-1) at 6 p.m. tonight at the Currie centre.

The Saint Mary's Huskies (8-2) lead the eight-team conference with 22 points, two more than the 6-2 Memorial Sea-Hawks of Newfoundland.

Acadia is third with 18 points, followed by St. Francis Xavier and UNB with eight apiece.

The Dalhousie Tigers (2-5) and Cape Breton Capers (3-5) are tied for sixth, with six points each, while the Panthers are in the basement with two points.