The St. Thomas University basketball teams had a successful season opener last Saturday, defeating the Mount Allison Mounties 53-44 for the women’s side while the men’s team slammed a close victory with 82-70.
Women’s team
Bridget Frazee was beaming with Tommie pride on Saturday afternoon, racking up a total of 19 points, including one three-pointer seconds away from the second quarter ending, bringing the score to 29-17.
In the third quarter, Vanessa Soffee made a layup, followed by a three-pointer by forward, Madison Owens, bringing the score up to 34-22.
At 36 points, Christina Richardson made a jump shot to stay in the lead 38-29.
Tension grew at the beginning of the third period when the Mounties landed a layup and a free throw respectively, bringing Mount A closer with 32-38. The nail-biting didn’t last long after Owens and Frazee making successful layups and free throws.
In the last ten seconds of the game, a free throw by Richardson brought the team their first victory of the regular season 53-44.
Head coach Fred Connors said he was impressed with the game and the team’s energy.
“I’m really happy with our energy. I thought we defended very, very well. I thought the ball movement in our offense was actually really good,” Connors said.
“I thought we had some big free throws, and we were doing a good job of attacking … our defense was really dialed in, and I thought we got some good steals.”
Their next game is against Crandall University at the Lady Beaverbrook Gym on Nov. 10 at 4 p.m.
Men’s team
Daeman Hemphill rocked the Lady Beaverbrook court, taking home 18 points for the Tommies, including two three-pointers and two free throws.
Geoffrey Lavoie scored the first two points of the game from a Mountie’s foul and tension began to rise after Mount A landed a three-pointer, bringing the score close to the Tommies’ lead of 10-7.
By the end of the second quarter, Tommies were up 41-32.
Three minutes before the end of the third quarter, the Tommies called a team timeout after Mount A landed a layup, bringing their score to 54-45. Shortly after, Hemphill made a jump shot to bring STU up to 56 points.
In the fourth quarter, Almin Dervisevic landed a three-pointer which put the men 10 points ahead of the Mounties. Brett Curtis from Mount Allison made a layup and bring themselves a mere three points away from the Tommies’ 61 points.
The Tommies were saved in the last five minutes of the game with Michael Otoo and Dervisevic’s three-pointers and Lavoie with his free throws, bringing the score to 73-63.
Lavoie made the last score for the home team bringing the game to a close at 82-68.
New head coach, John Hickey, was thoroughly impressed by how the first game went.
“When we needed guys to make plays, we had guys make plays,” said Hickey.
“I thought it was a really good team win. We had a lot of guys do a lot of good things.”
Hickey added that he admires the team’s chemistry this season.
“We have a great group of guys … Right now, we’re focused on kind of one goal [where] it’s everybody pulling for everybody. That’s very important when we get everybody focused on one thing.”
The men also play against Crandall University at the Lady Beaverbrook Gym on Nov. 10 starting at 6 p.m.
