HALIFAX, N.S. - The CIS No. 2 ranked SMU Huskies defeated the Acadia Axewomen 85-58 in Atlantic University Sport women's basketball action Tuesday night.

Acadia pushed the pace in the opening minutes, building a nine point cushion at one point and led 17-13 after the first quarter.

The early test from the Axewomen woke up the Huskies' powerful offence and stingy defence in the second frame.

Saint Mary's held Acadia to seven points in the quarter and built a 31-20 halftime lead.
 
To start the second half, the Huskies doubled their first half point total and led 63-35 after thirty minutes of action.
Saint Mary's outscored Acadia 23-19 in the fourth quarter and improves to 14-0 in AUS play.

Acadia's Aprille Deus led all scorers on the night with 25 points and Abbey Duinker added 15 points for the Axewomen, who fall to 4-9 on the year.

Justine Colley had 19 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and five steals for the Huskies.

Emily Jameson contributed 14 points coming off the SMU bench and went 4 for 8 from three-point land.
Saint Mary's made 48.6 percent (34-70) of their shots from the floor compared to Acadia's 35.8 percent (24-67), while the Huskies shot 33.3 percent (7-21) from three-point range while Acadia was a bit better at 35.3 percent (6-17). Saint Mary's bench outscored Acadia 34-7.

The Huskies return to action Friday January 31 when they travel to STFX for a 6pm tip-off, while Acadia heads to UNB for a two game weekend in Fredericton starting on Friday.