Panthers earn weekend sweep against St. FX

By Thomas Becker

The UPEI Panthers remain undefeated at home after sweeping the St. FX X-Women during the weekend series. 

Lauren Rainford was a big reason why, as the third-year guard scored 27 points with five rebounds, three assists and two steals in an 85-63 win. Rainford's older sister Aiden had her best game as a Panther, scoring 17 points to go along with eight rebounds. 

Alicia Bowering also finished in double figures with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc, while Karla Yepez had 10 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and two steals. 

"We had a rough weekend last weekend, so we knew we had to take care of business," Lauren said. "We came out a little flat yesterday, but we punched it today and I'm proud of the team." 

Tied 6-6 early on, St. FX's Mali Straker and Malina Collins connected on back-to-back triples to give their team a 12-8 lead. The Panthers (4-2) returned the favour moments later with three-pointers from Yepez and Lauren to even the score at 14 apiece. They closed the quarter on a 10-7 run and took a 24-21 lead into the second. 

St. FX (0-6) caught fire from beyond the arc as they drilled three consecutive three-pointers to make it a two-point game. However, they couldn't stop the Panthers, who responded with a 7-0 run and led 39-32 following Fraser's second made three of the quarter. 

The three ball kept the X-Women in the game, as Jaya D'Souza and Collins went back-to-back to trim the deficit to three. Lauren then countered with her own 5-0 run before the break, where UPEI led 49-43. 

UPEI opened the second half with five straight points, forcing St. FX to regroup with a timeout. After the breather, Aiden went to work inside, scoring five consecutive points as the Panthers broke the game wide open 59-43. 

Their defence was equally effective in the third quarter, where they held St. FX without a point for close to six minutes. Aiden had her best quarter of the season, as she single-handedly matched the X-Women's scoring output with nine points. After three, UPEI led big, 71-52.

In all four home games, the Panthers have dominated the third quarter, outscoring their opponents 94-42. While head coach Matt Gamblin is pleased with his team's ability to respond after the halftime break, he doesn't want it to become a crutch.

"Our third quarters have been a consistent pattern, but it shouldn't take a big lecture at halftime to do what we need to do," he said. "We gave up way too much in the first half, so the whole message was defence and pace, and they executed."

With the game in hand, both teams went to their bench a few minutes into the fourth before the Panthers closed out the 85-63 win.

Aliyah Fraser scored a team-high 18 points in the loss, while teammates Collins and Ekaterina Karchevska also finished in double figures with 16 and 10 points, respectively. 

The Panthers head to Fredericton next Saturday to take on the UNB Reds, while the X-Women return home where they will host the Memorial Sea-Hawks.

Photo Credit: Janessa Hogan