St. John's, NL - The UNB Reds defeated the Memorial Sea-Hawks 74-68 on Friday, January 19th at the MUN fieldhouse in AUS Women's basketball action.

UNB won the jump ball for immediate possession that they would try to hold for much of the first quarter. The first point of the game went to the Sea-Hawks off a free throw by #15 Hannah Green. The Reds quickly gained a basket of themselves by #11 Erin Ingalls. In the first 3 minutes, both teams were struggling offensively and missing baskets holding a low score of 4-3 for the Sea-Hawks. The Reds found some momentum and started netting their baskets, quickly gaining a 10-6 lead that forced the Sea-Hawks into a timeout. UNB held possession until a jump shot by MUN's #6 Claire Hickman made the score 18-16. The Red's gained the lead to end the quarter 19-18.

The second quarter opened with a long possession hold for the Sea-Hawks and a chance to gain the lead but two missed free throws allowed the Reds to gain a break and advance their lead. #10 Alyssa Jenkins made two free throws to get Memorial back up 20-21. Both teams slowly climbed the scoreboard swapping leads. The Reds held some strong defense keeping the Sea-Hawks blocked out from the basket. Their intense defending however gave the Sea-Hawks chances for points through foul shots. The Reds called a timeout after the Sea-Hawks managed to tie the game at 27 a piece. After the timeout, both teams once again sat back and held strong defense until Reds #21 Katie Butts managed a go ahead layup. As the score was tied 31 a piece with a minute left to the first half, Memorial called another timeout to try and gain the half. The half ended at 33-31 for Memorial with the go ahead points by #10 Alyssa Jenkins.

At half, point leaders were #9 Jayda Veinot and #21 Katie Butts from the Reds with 9 points each. On Memorials side, #8 Rebecka Ekstrom netted 8 points.

Reds #9 Jayda Veinot opened the scoring in the second half netting a 3 pointer to gain a 1 point lead. The two teams continued to trade leads keeping the score close for the majority of the third quarter until the Reds gained a 47-43 lead in the last three minutes. #9 Jayda Veinot was dominating the board for her team, netting the majority of their third quarter baskets. The Reds kept a small lead throughout the last part of the third quarter but gained 5 team fouls allowing the Sea-Hawks to gain points off of foul throws. Sea-Hawks #7 Alana Short gained a late 2 pointer to lessen UNB's lead to 5. The third quarter ended in 54-49 for the Reds.

#15 Hannah Green opened the scoring in teh final quarter with a deep 3 pointer. The Sea-Hawks quickly climbed ahead of the Reds with the go ahead basket coming from a 3 pointer from #7 Alana Short. The Reds regained the lead and quickly called a timeout in hopes of igniting a consecutive lead. Both teams gained momentum after the timeout, netting some quick baskets. The teams began to once again trade the lead, having a standstill at 62 a side until Reds #9 Jayda Veinot netted a hot 3. The game started to get heated as it neared the end of the quarter with the Reds leading by 1. Sea-Hawks #11 Erin Long gained a free throw with a little over 2 minutes left to tie the game.The Reds gained 5 team fouls which allowed

Sea-Hawks #7 Alana Short to gain a 1 points lead. The lead did not last long as the Reds regained the lead from foul shots as well. The Reds were given a chance to lengthen their 2 point lead in the last minute and a half through free throw chances. They gained 1 foul shot to create a 3 point lead heading into the last minute of play. The Sea-Hawks called a timeout to try and gain the game in the last 60 seconds. No points were gained in the next 30 seconds where the Reds called their own timeout to solidify their defensive play. 9 seconds later, the Sea-Hawks called a timeout as they were given position with 21 seconds left as they were down by 3.

#9 Jayda Veinot had an impressing game hoisting a stellar 31 points. Behind her was teammate #21 Katie Butts who netted 23 points. For the Sea-Hawks, #7 Alana Short gained 16 points throughout the game with #8 Rebecka Ekstrom right behind her with 15.

The Sea-Hawks and Reds return to action tomorrow here at the fieldhouse at 6:00 pm AST. The game can be watched online at https://austv.ca/ .