(HALIFAX, N.S.)--The Acadia Axewomen defeated the first place Saint Mary's Huskies 61-58 on Wednesday night in AUS women's basketball action from the Homburg Centre. It is the Axewomen's fourth win in the last six games.
 
Chanel Smith's (Halifax, N.S.) three-pointer with 63 seconds left gave Acadia a 60-58 fourth quarter lead and the Axewomen held on late for the win.
 
Acadia jumped out to a quick 13-7 first quarter lead before the Huskies were able to tie the second quarter scoring at 23-23 for the 36-30 Axewomen halftime lead.
 
Saint Mary's erased the Acadia lead with a 17-11 third quarter frame and tied the game up 47-47 after 30 minutes.
 
The fourth quarter saw the Huskies lead by as much as six points but Acadia won the fourth quarter scoring 14-11, good enough for the 61-58 win.
 
Leading Acadia on the night was newcomer Paloma Anderson (Phoenix, Arizona) with 21 points, Katie Ross (Bedford, N.S.) had 16 points and Smith finished with 14 points. Anderson sits in second place in the AUS scoring race with a 17.6 points per game average but is not listed until she plays 60% of the team's regular season games.
 
Acadia improves to 4-13 on the year. Not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs as of yet, the Axewomen trail sixth place UNB by 8 points and have 12 points up for grab in the remaining 3 games.
 
The loss drops Saint Mary's to 13-4 and puts the Huskies in a three-way 1st place tie with both Dal and UPEI at 11-6 while all three teams sit on 32 points.
 
Laura Langille (Bedford, N.S.) lead the Huskies and all scorers with 24 points on the night while teammate Kennisha-Shanice Luberisse (Montreal, Que.) finished with a double-double, good for 12 points and 11 rebounds.

 
Saint Mary's returns to action Saturday, February14th as they travel to the 9-8 CBU Capers (26 points) for a 6 pm game worth four points in the standings, while Acadia heads to Memorial to take on the fifth place Sea-Hawks for two games worth four points each.

Provided by Saint Mary's Sports Information