CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The battle on the boards could go a long way to determine the outcome of tonight’s UPEI Panthers women’s basketball game.
The Panthers (2-4), coming off being swept last weekend by the Cape Breton Capers in Sydney, N.S., host the country’s top-ranked Acadia Axewomen (6-0).
The Axewomen averaged 12 more rebounds than any other Atlantic University Sport team entering Friday’s action and were averaging 20 on the offensive glass.
“We just can’t allow them to dominate the offensive boards,” Panthers head coach Greg Gould said Friday. “When you play good defence and the other team shoots and misses and then they get second or third opportunities that's making it really tough on your defence.”
RELATED: Click here for the Panthers roster.
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. and the game is worth four points in the conference’s unbalance schedule. It is the Panthers final game of 2017.
“We’ve certainly had a challenging first semester schedule and, obviously, it doesn't get any easier tomorrow,” Gould said. “They’re playing like the senior-laden team that they are. They have a core of fifth-year players and they realize it’s their last chance to win a championship.”
Acadia is the conference’s highest-scoring team at 87.3 points per game while UPEI is averaging 67. While the Panthers won’t walk the ball up the floor, they will try not to get into a run-and-gun game either.
“I do think we have to be patient and take good shots,” Gould said. “We have to force them to play defence on every possession and we have to make shots if we’re going to be successful offensively.”
UPEI leads the country with the fewest turnovers at 12.2 per game and also gets a lot of points at the free-throw line.
Entering this week, the Panthers were third in the country in free throws taken and made and the two teams ahead of them had played two more games than UPEI.
This weekend
A look at this weekend’s schedule for UPEI Panthers varsity sports teams:
Tonight
Women’s basketball
6 p.m. – Acadia at UPEI.
Women’s hockey
7 p.m. – Dalhousie at UPEI.
Men’s basketball
8 p.m. – Acadia at UPEI.
Sunday
Women’s hockey
3 p.m. – UPEI at St. Thomas.
Did you know?
– Entering Friday’s games, Acadia’s Paloma Anderson led the conference at 18.3 points per game while Kiera Rigby (15.3) and Jenna Mae Ellsworth (13.8) led a balanced Panthers attack that includes Reese Baxendale, who is averaging 13.3 in her first six games of her university career.
– The teams are one-two in steals per game at 12.7 (Acadia) and 9.3 (UPEI) while turning the ball over the least at 12.2 (UPEI) and 15.7 (Acadia). They lead the conference in three-point shooting at 34.4 (Acadia) and 30.4 (UPEI).
– UPEI averaging 30 rebounds a game while Acadia gets 54. Kelsey Rice and Alexandra Berry were averaging 10.7 and 9.3 rebounds per game to rank one and four in the conference. Carolina Del Santo leads the Panthers at 9.3.
