HALIFAX, N.S. - Over the Holidays the Axewomen basketball team tuned up for the start of the regular season this coming weekend against Memorial with the Thunder Selects Holiday Classic Basketball Tournament hosted at the Homburg Centre on the Saint Mary's campus from December 29-30.
The freshman-dominated Acadia Axewomen lineup played as hard as one could ask a team to play on defense, especially coming off a month-long Christmas break.
Acadia's first game was against the 9-1 (OUA standings) Western Mustangs who played their five starters for most of the game. Out to a quick start, the Axewomen led the Mustangs 12-6 after the opening quarter. Western made up the deficit by the end of the half, edging Acadia 26-24. A low scoring third quarter narrowed 33-32 Western lead, but the Mustangs held tight to snag a 59-54 win over the young Acadia squad.
Matched up in game two against the Brock Badgers, who have appeared on the CIS Top Ten several times this season, the Axewomen showed a strong first quarter, leading Brock 19-17, but had a week second frame. Trailing the Badgers 44-32 at the half, Acadia worked back to within three in a 69-66 loss.
In their third and final game of the tournament, the Axewomen faced the 7-3 (OUA standings) McMaster Mauraders that resulted in a 80-66 loss. First year forward Alexandra Berry topped the Axewomen with 21 points and four rebounds while senior Abbey Duinker netted 16 points and 8 rebounds. Losing the first half 43-22, the Axewomen battled back with a 44-37 second half win but not enough to end the tournament with a victory.
"We entered this December tournament with some clear teambuilding & experiential goals in mind, and we are pushing ourselves as coaches to stay the course on these aims, as we attempt to first discover and then gradually implement what we think might become a practical depth-chart for our team, when we resume the AUS season', pointed out head coach Bev Greenlaw.
"Clearly, this puts additional stress on an extremely inexperienced team that struggles at the best of times to score, and that stress showed in a couple of offensive areas this past weekend" said Greenlaw. "Yet our Acadia kids played well enough that we actually had a chance to win the games down the stretch."
Fifth-year All-Canadian candidate, Abbey Duinker, continue to be outstanding for the Axewomen, despite constant triple-teaming. Duinker was named as a tournament All-Star despite the Axewomen's three close losses. Duinker averaged 19.7 points per game and had eleven rebounds per game average. The senior forward had a high 11 rebounds and 28 points versus the Brock Badgers. Duinker leads the Axewomen with a 15 points per game and 8 rebounds per game average while leading the AUS with 18 blocks in seven games.
The Axewomen open the second half of the regular season at home this Saturday night as they host the 2-4 Memorial Sea-Hawks starting at 6pm.