REDS Down Axewomen In OT
(FREDERICTON, NB) Jayda Veinot (Port Williams, NS) scored a game-high 33 points, including nine in overtime, as the UNB REDS beat the Acadia Axewomen 91-87 in the Atlantic University Sport regular season finale for both teams.
With the win, the REDS secure second place in the AUS standings and a quarter-final bye at next weekend's AUS championship tournament.
"It's an honour to play in a game like that," said Veinot, named Tim Horton's Player of the Game. "Those are the kind of games you play in the playoffs, so it's important for us to have that experience and come out on the winning side. I think it was incredible to play, so much fun, but also really good for us."
The REDS scored on their first two possessions to build an early lead before the teams settled into a back-and-forth of sorts.
Tied 9-9, the Axewomen went on a 5-0 run to go ahead 14-9. When they extended that lead to 18-11, UNB called a timeout.
The Axewomen continued to push and led 22-13 after one quarter.
In the second, the REDS rebounded, outscoring the Axewomen 29-24 to trim their deficit to just four points.
At the half, Acadia was ahead 46-42.
The third quarter saw Acadia claw back some of their big lead, taking a 65-55 lead after 30 minutes.
In the fourth the REDS went to work, using an 8-0 run in the early minutes to pull to within a pair at 65-63.
UNB outscored the Axewomen 19-9 over the final ten minutes of regulation and the teams were tied 74-74 at the end of the fourth quarter.
Cue Veinot's take over.
She scored nine of her 33 in the extra frame and UNB never trailed, winning 91-87.
"We had a much better flow in overtime and moved the ball well and we were getting some stops," said REDS' head coach Erin McAleenan. "In the last minute and a half we were a little bit too passive defensively, but in terms of our execution, I thought we got some big rebounds down the stretch that then led to some fouls."
Katie Butts (Ottawa, ON) and Erin Ingalls (St. George, NB) both recorded double-doubles in the REDS win. Butts scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Ingalls added 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Elizabeth-Ann Iseyemi (Dartmouth, NS) led the Axewomen with 21 points and 19 rebounds while Lisa Bolander (Uppsala, SWE) had 20 points and Rio Yamazaki (Tokyo, JAP) had 19, including nine in the overtime period.
That kind of game, especially tonight, that kind of experience for our group, I felt as the game kept going on, we got more into our flow and were figuring out what we could do that was working and that bodes well, the experience and confidence we have coming from that game," said Coach McAleenan.
The REDS finish the season with a 15-5 record, good for second place.
They now await a semi-final opponent at the AUS Championships, in Halifax.
Acadia finishes 13-7 and will play in the AUS quarter-finals against a still to be determined opponent.
Veinot, playing her final AUS regular season game, finishes her regular season career with 1695 points, good for 7th on the AUS all-time scoring list. The first 919 of that total were scored as a member of the Axewomen.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics