(ANTIGONISH, N.S.) - The X-Women, causing turnovers and forcing the Huskies to attempt difficult shots, jumped out to an early 8-2 lead but couldn't keep pace with Saint Mary's for the full 40 minutes falling 76-63 in the final of the 2014 Subway AUS women's basketball championships.
Championship MVP Justine Colley had her fingerprints all over this game from the start, attacking the basket and dishing out assists to red-hot shooters Rachelle Coward and Angelina Carvery.
Coward and Carvery dropped in six first-half three pointers between them while Colley added 12 points, five assists and four rebounds. Saint Mary's led 44-35 at the half.
The Huskies opened up a 13-point lead midway through the third quarter countering any momentum StFX would start to build. Saint Mary's ended the quarter with a three-point play by Rachelle Coward to take a 59-47 lead into the fourth quarter.
Second-year guard Melissa Gottschall refused to throw in the towel and attempted to get StFX back in the game with two baskets early in the final frame to cut lead to single digits.
Unfortunately for the second-seeded X-Women, a friendly bounce on a Laura Langille three pointer put the game out of reach for good. Saint Mary's would lead by as many as 19 in the fourth and coast to a 76-63 victory for their second straight Subway AUS championship banner.
Kolbi Roper, Rebecca Sheehan and Courtney Kilyk all finished with double-digits in the loss scoring 15, 11 and 10 points respectively. Sheehan was also named to the tournament all-star team.
Justine Colley was named Subway Player of the Game and Championship MVP, finishing two assists shy of a triple double with 22 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.
Rounding out the tournament all-stars were Dalhousie's Courtney Thompson, UPEI's Danielle MacDonald and Saint Mary's Rachelle Coward who scored 23 points in the final game and nine of 19 shots from long range over the weekend.
Saint Mary's now moves on to represent the Atlantic conference at the 2014 ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS Final 8 women's basketball championship hosted by the University of Windsor March 14-16 in Windsor, Ont.
Source: Jonathan Lane for UPEI Sports Information