Huskies hold off Reds 54-51

(FREDERICTON, NB) Alaina McMillan (Brantford, ON) dropped 22 points and the Saint Mary's Huskies outscored the UNB Reds 21-9 in the fourth quarter to pull out a 54-51 win, in Fredericton on Saturday evening.

McMillan's efforts earned her Subway Player of the Game honours.

"Our mentality was different in the fourth," said McMillan. "We really wanted to win this game going into the Christmas break and, prove that we deserve our spot in the standings," said McMillan.

The Reds drop to 2-and-5, while the Huskies improve to 5-and-2.

The Reds came out strong with a 7-0 run to start the first quarter.

The Huskies, or rather McMillan, would respond by dropping 17 points in a three-and-a-half-minute span to single-handedly give the Huskies a 17-11 lead after the first.

The Reds would quickly tie the game 19-19 early in the second. From there, the two teams traded a handful of baskets to finish out the half tied 25-25.

McMillan and Reds point guard Mikaela Dodig (Bolton, ON) scored 29 of the 50 points between the two teams in the half. 

UNB surged ahead with a strong finish to the third quarter, going on an 8-0 run in the last five minutes, smothering the play of the Huskies at both ends of the court to lead 42-33 heading to the fourth.

SMU would not go away though, putting up a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to cut UNB's lead.  

The Huskies would only build on that, forcing the Reds to commit a handful of key turnovers late in the game to pull ahead and snatch the game from UNB's hands 54-51.

"You've got two choices. You can dwell on it, worry about yourself and be selfish, or you can use it as motivation," said Reds head coach Jeff Speedy.

Dodig led the Reds with 19 points and four rebounds, while Clara Gascoigne (Dartmouth, NS) had 12 points and four rebounds for the Huskies.

This game concludes the first half of the season for the two teams.

The Reds resume their season on January 4^th, when they host the St FX X-Women.

The Huskies also resume their season that day, on the road against the Cape Breton Capers.

Both games start at 6:00pm.

RECAP BY: Jonathon James/for UNB Athletics

PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics