Panthers earn much-needed win against St. FX

ANTIGONISH, NS—The UPEI Panthers defeated the STFX X-Women 83-67 Friday evening in AUS action on Coach K Court at the STFX Saputo Centre. 

The Panthers opened the game on a 7-0 run. Consecutive three-pointers by STFX's Katie Upham and Aliyah Fraser drew the X-Women to within four points, 10-6, four minutes into the game. But the Panthers had some sharp three-point shooting of their own and opened up a lead on the home team. 

The X-Women got into foul trouble late in the quarter and the Panthers pulled ahead 31-19 after the opening 10 minutes of play. 

The visitors maintained their 10-point advantage early in the second quarter. They increased the lead to 15 points, 50-35, with under a minute to play. The game closed out at halftime with UPEI leading the X-Women 50-37. 

Devon Lawlor (Millcove, PE) scored 12 points in the opening half for the Panthers, while Alicia Bowering (Orangeville, ON) netted eight. 

Fraser led the X-Women in first half scoring with 11 points, including a trio of three pointers. Jaya D'Souza (Brampton, ON) scored eight.  

The X-Women had 10 turnovers in the opening half to the Panthers five. 

STFX was unable to cut into the UPEI lead in the third quarter as the Panthers outscored the blue and white 22-15 in the frame. 

UPEI built up a 20-point lead, 72-52 after three quarters of play. Karla Yepez (Quito, Ecuador) scored nine points in the quarter for the Panthers. 

In a low scoring fourth quarter, the X-Women outpaced the Panthers 15-11 but were unable to overcome the deficit as the Panthers took the 83-67 win.  

D'Souza scored five points in the final quarter for STFX and earned 15 total on the night as she was named the STFX player of the game.  

Fraser finished with 11 points for the X-Women and Lauren Neeve (Oro-Medonte, ON) contributed nine and had four rebounds.  

For the Panthers, Lawlor scored 16 and had seven rebounds, earning her Subway player of the game honours. Aiden Rainford (Toronto, ON) also scored 16 and hauled in eight rebounds. Bowering scored 13 and Yepez had 11, along with four rebounds and five assists on the night. 

With the win the Panthers improve to 7-5 on the season. The X-Women drop to 3-11.  

The same two teams will be back in action on Coach K Court for a rematch Saturday at 2:00 pm.

RECAP BY: Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information / PHOTOS BY: Bryan Kennedy