REDS Win AUS Title
(HALIFAX, NS) For the first time in 27 years, the UNB REDS are the champions of Atlantic University Sport women's basketball.
UNB won the 29th conference title in program history with a decisive 84-59 win over the UPEI Panthers on Sunday afternoon in Halifax.
Veteran guard Kylee Speedy led the REDS with 28 points, 20 of which came in the second half. She was named the Boston Pizza Player of the Game.
Graduating forward Katie Butts scored 17 points, pulled down 14 rebounds, and had two steals.
Butts was named the Most Valuable Player of the conference championship tournament, and both Butts and Speedy were named tournament all-stars.
The Panthers scored the first basket of the game, but the REDS seized control a short time later.
They went ahead 11-10 at the 5:12 mark of the first quarter and never relinquished the lead.
A Speedy three-point basket pushed UNB's first quarter lead to ten and the REDS led 25-17 after 10 minutes.
In the second, UNB held the Panthers off the scoreboard for the first 3:10, but a 7-0 PEI run late in the quarter cut into the REDS lead.
UNB was up 41-29 at the half-time break.
The REDS put the game out of reach in the third quarter, holding the Panthers to just eight points.
In the fourth, the REDS led by as much as 32 on route to their 25-point margin of victory.
Alyssa Jenkins came off the UNB bench to score 13 points and grab seven rebounds while Maheva Ngassam contributed 11 rebounds and four assists.
Grace Lancaster and Devon Lawlor both scored 14 in the Panthers loss.
Next up for the REDS, the U SPORTS women's basketball championship tournament. That takes place at Universite Laval, in Quebec City, March 5-8.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB REDS
PHOTOS BY: Nick Pearce/for Atlantic University Sport