Huskies Down REDS For Campbell Tourney Title
(FREDERICTON, NB) The Saint Mary's Huskies are champions of the 2023 Stewart-McKelvey Helen Campbell Tournament.
The Huskies beat the host UNB REDS 74-50 on Sunday in an all-Atlantic University Sport match-up.
"I thought we played our best game of the weekend today," said Huskies' head coach Scott Munro.
The visitors got the early jump, taking an 8-2 lead less than five minutes in and forcing a REDS timeout.
The Huskies led 17-11 after one quarter and then went on a 10-2 run to start the second, pushing their lead to 27-13.
Playing without former Atlantic conference MVP Jayda Veinot (Port Williams, NS) and newcomer Addie Mombourquette (Fredericton, NB), the REDS struggled to keep pace and trailed 47-23 at the half.
Saint Mary's opened the second half with an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 55-23 and they'd continue to dominate, holding the hosts to just eight third quarter points to take a 65-31 lead to the fourth.
UNB staged a bit of a rally in the fourth, but it wasn't enough, and the Huskies took the 74-50 decision and the exhibition tournament title.
"Obviously, without Jayda, it's a different dynamic. She does a lot of heavy lifting for them, but I thought we played decently today," said Munro.
"It happens. You have good games and you have bad games," said fourth-year REDS wing Erin Ingalls (St. George, NB). "I thought we battled a little bit better together at the end, which was nice to see, but the loss is, obviously, disappointing."
Ingalls scored three points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the loss, while Kylee Speedy (Fredericton, NB) led the REDS with 16 points. Both were named tournament all-stars.
Lucy Beaumont (Fredericton, NB) led all scorers with 20 points for the Huskies, 18 of which came in the opening half. She was one of two Huskies named tournament all-stars.
Aki Kobayashi (Halifax, NS) came off the SMU bench to score 10 points and grab half a dozen rebounds. She was named the Tim Horton's Player of the Game.
Huskies' guard Alaina McMillan (Brantford, ON), who scored just seven points on Sunday, was also named a tournament all-star and earned tournament MVP honours.
"We let them dictate the tone of the game a little bit, let them take us out of our stuff and we weren't giving it back to them," said Ingalls.
In the first game of the day, the Laval Rouge et Or scored a convincing 103-42 win over the Nipissing Lakers.
Laval took advantage of multiple Lakers turnovers in the first half to build a 51-21 lead, then clamped down on defence and added 52 more points in the second to secure the victory.
"It feels good," said Laval's Brinly Holt (Halifax, NS). "We brought the energy today that we lacked yesterday. It's good to end on a good note."
Élodie Lajoie (Amos, QC) came off the Laval bench to lead the team with 16 points, while Audrey Beland (Rivière-du-Loup, QC) scored 10 and pulled down 10 rebounds.
Sophie Milner (Antigonish, NS) led the Lakers. She scored 16 points.
"That was a tough loss," said Milner. "But we're a really young team and these are our first games playing together. We saw a lot of potential against good and gritty Saint Mary's and UNB teams."
Despite her team going winless, Milner, a Maritimer, enjoyed playing in front of family and friends.
"This is my first time playing, kind of, at home, so it was exciting to see family, friends," she said. "It's good to play for people you know."
Lakers' forward Megan Mccarter (Wallaceburg, ON) and Laval guard Frédérique Beaudry-Blais were named tournament all-stars.
The REDS now prepare for appearances in exhibition tournaments at Dalhousie (Oct. 13-15) and McGill (Oct. 19-21) before opening the AUS regular season on the road, at STFX, on October 27th.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTO BY: Kunal Majahan/for UNB Athletics