Varsity Reds Hang On To Beat Dal

(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB Varsity Reds finished the first half of the Atlantic University Sport season on a winning note, hanging on to beat the visiting Dal Tigers 51-47.

Hannah Currie(Collingwood, ON) led the Varsity Reds with a game-high 11 points. She also had 8 rebounds. Katelyn Mangold(Peterborough, ON) chipped in with 10 points and 9 rebounds, while Laura Kaye(Fredericton, NB) scored 9.

Diedre Alexander(Woodstock, NB) led the Tigers with 9 points, while Robertha Charles(Montreal, QC) and Michele Tchiakoua(Yaounde, CAM) each had 7 rebounds.

"We played awful and I'm very disappointed in how we played," said Varsity Reds head coach Jeff Speedy, whose team improved to 6-1. "I'm sure when I get up tomorrow 6 and 1 will look pretty good, but right now it doesn't look very good."

Speedy doesn't like the fact his team allowed the young Tigers to remain in the game.

"I just think we played really scared," he said. "We played scared to shoot the ball, we played scared to pass the ball, we couldn't dribble the ball. I didn't think we had more than one or two people really step up and put their grown-up pants on to play in that second half."

For her efforts, Mangold was named the Subway Player of the Game.

The fifth year player admits, the Varsity Reds almost gave the game away.

"I think our defence broke down at the beginning of the second half," said Mangold.

She saw the Tigers gain confidence as Dal clawed their way back in, even taking a lead briefly.

"They absolutely got a spark," said Mangold. "I think we got a little bit nervous with that, and that our shots weren't falling, that freaked us out."

The Varsity Reds led 14-8 after one quarter, and 28-16 at the half.

The Tigers ate into the deficit, outscoring UNB in the second half, but it wasn't enough.

"We were definitely in the game," said Alexander, a third year Tigers guard. "We were working hard, it just didn't end the way we wanted it to, but we were in it and we can feel good about that."

The Tigers got 19 of their 47 points off the bench.

"It would've meant more if we could win it," said Alexander. "But we'll take what happened today and move on and work to improve on what we showed today."

The Varsity Reds, while not satisfied, are happy to go to the Christmas break with a big four-point win.

"That's some confidence, going into Christmas for us," said Mangold. "It's nice to finish the first half of the season with a win, but especially after that third quarter, we still have a lot of work to do, going into the holidays."

Both teams are now off until early January, when they both hit the road.

The Tigers travel to UPEI, on January 7^th.

The Varsity Reds visit Cape Breton, on January 6^th.