Despite only shooting 6 for 30 from behind the arc in the game, the Tommies had a huge momentum swing in the first-half from the beyond the arc when Sam Wilson hit back to back threes to give STU a commanding lead and they never looked back.
Once again the whole team was firing on all cylinders against the Crandall Chargers as they improved their record to a league best 8-0 with a 87-40 win heading into the Christmas break.
Sam Wilson had 18 points and 8 rebounds, Kelly Vass had a near triple double with 15 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds, Hilary Goodine was named player of the game with 12 points and 9 rebounds, and Carissa McTague worked hard on the boards with 15 boards to go along with 8 points.
The win for the Tommies was an incredible 58th straight victory against ACAA opponents, making it one of the more impressive achievements in recent memory.
This victory was sort of a redemption game for STU after squeaking out a close one last week against King’s College.
“I think we came in with a lot of energy and stayed true to our style of game. We really learned from what happened against King’s and came out ready to play in the first half,” explained co-captain Kathleen McCann.
The second leading scorer in the ACAA, Marlon Smith was once again the only bright spot for the Chargers, as she scored 21 points and added 6 rebounds in the loss.
St.Thomas outshot the Chargers 41.1 percent (24 of 58) to 11.1 percent (3 of 27)in the first half and outscored Crandall 56-9. The Tommies pushed the pace at every chance in the half until the game was ultimately out of reach.
Although the Chargers outscored STU by one point in the second half, the Tommies lead was insurmountable. This was their last game before the break and they resume play on January 12th against Mount Allison.
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Going into Friday’s game, the men’s team from Crandall was sitting in first place at the top of the ACAA standings, but that didn’t worry the Tommies.
Four huge three’s in the second-half from STU guard Jason Daniels, and impressive play from Calvin LeBlanc contributed to a second half where the two players combined for 46 points out of the teams 81, helping STU take down the first place Chargers with a 81-70 victory at the Lady Beaverbrook gym on Friday night.
“After Crandall brought it back to being a close game, we stepped up our defensive play and re established our offence. Jason was a huge part of that in the second half,” said Corey Delong.
Calvin Leblanc had his second straight 25 point game in the win, Jason Daniels was named player of the game with 21 points, 16 of them coming in the second half, while Bradley Hovey and Corey Delong combined for 21 points.
The Tommies had their best first half of the season, as they outscored the Chargers 40-22, while shooting over 40% from the field to Crandall’s 28%.
All the momentum that they gained in the first half, was quickly gone in the third quarter, as theChargers outscored STU 27 to 14. A big part for their resurgence in the second half was the lights out shooting from Nathaniel Fells, who had five three’s and a game high 25 points.
What looked like a possible collapse for the Tommies was stopped in the fourth quarter when Jason Daniels picked up the slack from the third quarter and led the Tommies to their 5th win of the season.
The win puts STU in sole possession of third place in the ACAA, and drops Crandall into second heading into the Christmas break.
