Huskies fall 78-70 in home opener

(HALIFAX, N.S.)—The Saint Mary's Huskies dropped their 2018-19 season-opener at home on Thursday evening, 78-70 to the visiting Acadia Axewomen in Atlantic University Sport women's basketball action from the Homburg Centre.

Haley McDonald (Port Williams, NS) paced Acadia and all scorers with 35 points, with 15 coming in the second quarter.  She was named Subway Player of the Game. 

Acadia jumped out to a 19-15 lead after ten minutes and the Axewomen outscored SMU 25-22 in the second frame and took a 44-37 halftime lead.

An 11-9 third quarter score saw the Axewomen push their lead to nine after thirty minutes, 55-46.

The Huskies battled back in the fourth quarter outscoring Acadia 24-23 but ultimately fell short as the Axewomen improved to 1-0 with the 78-70 victory.

McDonald dished out four assists and shot 10-17 from the floor and made 12 of her 14 free throws. She had half of Acadia's six three-pointers on the night.

Lanae Adams (Lawrenceville, Georgia) had a double-double off the bench with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Rookie guard Alaina McMillan led the Huskies with 18 points in her Saint Mary's debut. The Brantford, Ontario native added seven assists and had four steals in the loss.

Third year transfer and Tampa, Florida native Arianna Macias added 15 points for SMU while Josie Gascoigne (Dartmouth, NS) had nine and Kendra MacKinnion (Pictou, NS) had 10 off the bench.

Both teams return to action at the Homburg Centre on Saturday, November 3^rd , 6 p.m. tip-off.

Dominic Nolasco, SMU Communications

Photo Mona Ghiz