Sloppy defence and a less-than-potent offence against the Cape Breton University Capers resulted in a 78-63 loss to cap off the 2011 portion of the 2011-12 Atlantic University Sport season.
The Reds (1-5), who dropped CBU (3-2) 70-65 on Friday, are heading into the break at the bottom of the league table and four points out of a playoff spot.
However, in true Jim Mora-type fashion, head coach Jeff Speedy quelled any talk of the playoffs after Saturday's loss at the Richard J. Currie Center.
"We're literally trying to get better every week and there's so many unknowns heading into the season with this team. I think we're still trying to figure some things out," said Speedy.
"Are there some things we need to get better at pronto? Yeah. Are there some lessons we should've learned by now but haven't? Sure."
The first lesson would be defence.
Capers guard Cassie Cooke took advantage of some open looks and poor help-side defence on UNB's part for a 27-point performance, including five three-pointers. Britanny Hollins, Stephanie Toxopeus and Kayla McCarron all reached double digits as well, with 13, 13 and 10 points, respectively.
The Reds kept pace with the Capers for most of the game, losing every quarter except one by no more than three points. However, a sluggish start to the third after entering the intermission down 37-33 let CBU put up 25 points to take a 62-48 lead after 30 minutes.
"We've had a tough term," Speedy said.
"I don't know if what you saw today was literally all we had left in the tank or not. All of our rookies, this is kind of the length of their entire season when they play high school. I think the defence you saw today was either a tired team or a team that hasn't quite figured out how to get stops on the defensive end."
It's been a difficult start to the season for a squad trying to find their identity - not to mention a group of key players adjusting to new, heavily-relied-on roles.
"We're asking a second-year player to be our leading scorer and not too many teams have second-year players in a leadership role," Speedy said. "And we're asking two people that have never started really in this program to start and play 30 minutes a game. There's a lot of question marks with this year's team and we're really trying to take it one week at a time."
The second-year player Speedy speaks of is offensive star Claire Colborne. However, there are inherent difficulties in placing the offensive workload on a lone individual, who happens to be a sophomore in this case. Colborne, who lifted the Reds to victory on Friday with a superb 34-point outing, was reduced to 18 points by the Capers on Saturday.
Colborne has been doing her job offensively, though. After six games, her 19.5 points per game is on pace to eclipse last year's 18.3 mark. Yet, she's not receiving much in the way of support. Jordanne Holstein, who pitched in 12 points on Saturday, is a distant second in team scoring, averaging 11.8 points per game.
It's just one of the many questions Speedy has to answer over the break. He can sleep soundly for the next month, however, knowing his squad has achieved one his early goals: be better than the team they were before.
"I think if we'd play the Sept. 25 or Oct. 5 Varsity Reds, we'd win easily," he said.
The Reds will continue to train and work on strategy and technique over the break before searching for their second win when they challenge St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., on Jan. 6.