Axewomen win opener; men fall short against SMU

BY JOHN DECOSTE

The Advertiser

NovaNewsNow.com

The Acadia basketball Axewomen started off the 2006-2007 season with a bang, serving notice that they may be a team to watch this winter.

Point guard Semra Ilhan scored 15 of her game-high 21 points in the first half as the Axewomen built a 37-27 halftime lead en route to a 73-58 win.

The victory was a real team effort. Veterans Jennifer Bishop and Kim Hurley added 12 and 10 points respectively, Ginny Gane had nine points, Cailin Crosby eight, Sam Nuttall seven and Marrla Evans six.

Kelsey Daley had 20 points and Alise Brown 19 for the Huskies, but no other SMU player managed more than five points.

The Huskies led 3-0 to start the game, but that would be their only lead as Acadia used some hot shooting to build a 20-7 advantage early in the second quarter. SMU would get no closer than four points the rest of the way.

Acadia was particularly strong in terms of rebounding, winning the battle of the boards 32-19 led by eight rebounds apiece from Gane and Ilhan, seven from Hurley and five from Bishop.

The Axemen were not as fortunate in their home opener, dropping a 61-54 decision to SMU. Acadia led 30-27 at halftime, but some hot shooting down the stretch, particularly from Huskies’ player of the game Mark McLaughlin, proved to be the difference.

McLaughlin finished with 19 points, all but three in the second half, and Aaron Duncan also had 19. Paulo Santana had a ‘double-double’ for the Axemen with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Luckern Dieu had 12 points and seven rebounds.

Both Acadia teams are back in action on Sunday at Dalhousie.