The Memorial women's basketball team will look to build off their sweep of the Saint Mary's Huskies last weekend, as they welcome the Acadia Axewomen for a 2-game series this weekend at home.
The Sea-Hawks took care of business last weekend with 2 very convincing wins against the visiting Huskies. The 3-1 Axewomen come to town fresh off of a loss at home to the UPEI Panthers.
Acadia is a team that rebounds well, averaging 45.5 rebounds per game, almost 5 more than Memorial's 40.8 a game. The Axewomen also move the ball well, averaging 14.3 assists per game, 2 more than Memorial's 12.3 assists. The Hawks will have to attack the glass and move the ball well if they want to earn some wins against a tough Acadia team.
Head Coach Mark English, when asked how they can beat a team like Acadia, said that the team needs to ride the wave and feed off the crowd. He also mentioned the scoring threat they present, "Acadia is scoring 72 points per game. They can score the basketball and have a number of threats. I think if we can stick to our game plan and make their looks at the basket tough we will give ourselves a great chance this weekend."
To that point, English said that the main thing his team could improve on was their defensive consistency, "Our defense on Sunday could have been better at the beginning and I think that is something we have to be more consistent with heading into this weekend." This defensive consistency will be key against an Acadia team that moves the ball well and has multiple players that can score the basketball at a high rate.
Memorial has a deep team as well, with multiple girls that can score in double figures on any given night. 3 or more players have scored in double figures in each game so far this season. They will rely heavily on that well balanced scoring this weekend.
When asked about the team's depth, 5th year guard Sydney Stewart said that it will be a major factor in the team's performance this weekend. "It (depth) will help a lot this weekend. Having a strong offensive team like we have this season makes our team very difficult to guard. Teams can no longer shut down one player and count on that to stop us from scoring. We have multiple offensive threats and that makes it really difficult for teams to plan for us."
Stewart also added that the team's main focus is to start off the game strong not only offensively, but defensively as well, and remain consistent throughout the game. "I'm confident in our scoring abilities, so now we just have to make sure we don't just trade baskets, by playing tough team defense the whole game."
The Sea-Hawks play Saturday at 6:00PM NST and Sunday at 12:00PM NST. You can come cheer on the Sea-Hawks live at the Field House, watch from home on AUStv.ca or keep up with the games on Twitter and the live scoring at www.goseahawks.ca