X-Women use height for win over Husson

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BANGOR – For a period in the second half of Wednesday night’s Husson-St. Francis Xavier women’s basketball game, it looked as if Husson’s speed and outside shooting might overcome the X-Women’s height.

But when St. Francis Xavier started hitting its free throws and 3-pointers, the X-Women pulled away from the Braves for a 79-74 victory at Newman Gymnasium.

With six 6-foot or over players on the roster, St. Francis had a huge height advantage over the smaller Braves.

“We went out trying to force them to take shots on angles they didn’t want to and to force them to pull down rebounds out of position,” Husson coach Kissy Walker said.

But the X-Women managed to outrebound the Braves 46-23, and St. Francis guard Lindsay Clarke came out of halftime on fire to neutralize Husson’s defense.

The 5-foot-7 Clarke, one of the shortest players on the roster, scored 13 of her 16 points in the second half.

The Braves started the game with a quick 13-7 lead as center Kelly Dow scored six points in the first five minutes, but the X-Women soon found success under the hoop and gained a four-point lead when Clarke hit a 3-pointer from the right wing.

Katie Nye connected on a 3-pointer at the end of the half but the X-Women took a 35-31 lead into the locker room.

“Their outside shooting hurt us,” St. Francis coach Doc Ryan said. “They did a good job executing their sets and gave us trouble that way.”

St. Francis went with a smaller lineup in the second half to deal with Husson’s quickness.

“We wanted to slow it down a bit, try to stop their speed,” said forward Nikki Doucet, who led the X-Women with 17 points. “We wanted to bring it more to our pace.”

The Braves stayed close and tied it up on a 3-pointer from Leslie Weed (16 points) with 6:10 left, but the X-Women pulled away with a 68-60 lead as Clarke hit a 3-pointer and knocked in a basket and two free throws.

“Defensively I think we did very well,” Walker said. “On offense, we panicked. We had some key mistakes down the stretch.”

The X-Women struggled with free throws in the first half, completing just 6 on 14 attempts. They finished at 20-for-35 from the line.

“We use a men’s ball in Canada, so I think we weren’t used to [the smaller women’s basketball],” Ryan said.

St. Francis Xavier’s Holly Richards, a 6-1 post player, contributed 15 points. Six-footer Kristin Moore scored 11.

Corinna’s Nye led all scorers with 21 points. Center Dow, a 6-2 center from Calais, scored 14 points.

Guard Leslie Weed of Freedom connected on four 3-pointers in the second half and finished with 16 points.

Freshman Leslie Trott of Brewer made a good impression with 10 points, four steals and three assists. The 5-10 forward connected on 2 of 3 3-point attempts.

“I’m very, very pleased with Leslie,” Walker said.

X-Women 79, Braves 74

St. Francis (4-3) Husson (0-3)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Harris 0 0 0 0 0 Trott 3 6 2 2 10

Clarke 5 7 3 4 16 Weed 6 14 0 1 16

Reardon 0 0 0 2 0 Eaton 1 3 2 2 5

Johnston 3 8 3 4 9 Tobin 0 1 0 0 0

MacMillan 0 3 0 0 0 Nye 7 13 5 6 21

Wister 1 2 0 0 2 Doughty 4 11 0 0 8

Moore 5 9 1 2 11 Bossie 0 0 0 0 0

Large 0 1 1 2 1 Dow 5 10 4 6 14

Richards 4 11 7 11 15 Steinhart 0 0 0 0 0

Sanderson 0 5 0 0 0 Roselle 0 1 0 0 0

Resnitzky 4 5 0 0 8

Doucet 6 12 5 10 17

Jamieson 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 28 63 20 35 79 Totals 26 59 13 17 74

St. Francis Xavier 35 44 79

Husson 31 43 74

3-pt. goals: St. Francis Xavier (3-9): Clarke 3-4, Johnston 0-1, Doucet 0-1, MacMillan 0-1, Sanderson 0-2; Husson (9-18): Trott 2-3, Eaton 1-1, Weed 4-5, Nye 2-5, Doughty 0-4

Attendance: 100