Huskies hold off Tigers

High school rivals continue battle on university court

By BRIAN FREEMAN Sports Reporter, The Chronicle Herald

November 12, 2009

Justine Colley netted 18 points to offset former high school rival Anna von Maltzahn’s 15 as the Saint Mary’s Huskies downed the Dalhousie Tigers 65-55 in Atlantic university women’s basketball action Wednesday night at the Tower in Halifax.

The two rookie guards, who often duelled in the metro girls’ league when Colley was starring for the Halifax Grammar Gryphons and von Maltzahn for the Citadel Phoenix, led their respective teams in scoring again Wednesday night, this time on the university hard court.

Colley set the tone for the Huskies, scoring the team’s first points in the first, third and fourth quarters and also dropping the last basket of the opening half as Saint Mary’s (1-2) led from start to finish to win its first game of the season.

"We’re really excited," said the 18-year-old from East Preston. "The sky’s the limit. Hopefully we can continue to win on our home court and away."

The Huskies were ahead 18-8 after the first quarter and took a 33-22 lead into halftime. They were up by as many as 12 points on two different occasions before the Tigers cut the lead to five on a Rachael Harrison trey with roughly 90 seconds left in the third quarter.

That’s as close as the visitors would come, though, as the Huskies quickly regained a nine-point advantage and never allowed the Tigers to get closer than six again.

"I thought we executed our game plan pretty well," SMU head coach Scott Munro said. "Dalhousie’s a pretty big team and we’re not but we did a nice job packing things in inside and taking away some of their size.

"We played very well defensively in the first half. (We) may have gotten a little tired in the second half but managed to withstand their late run and hold on."

Forward Laure Pitfield chipped in with 15 points for the Huskies and first-year guard Robbi Daley added eight.

"I thought our rookies stepped up very well tonight," Munro said. "Justine had a great game. As well, Robbi Daley came off the bench and hit a few big shots for us and Rebecca Nuttall also had a very solid game."

Colley, who scored on a variety of medium-range jumpers and drives to the hoop, finished 6-for-23 from the floor, including 0-for-7 from three-point range.

She said she’s still getting used to the university game.

"It’s a big adjustment, honestly — a lot bigger players and everybody else is so much quicker than in high school but I feel like my team is helping me adjust and we’re doing pretty well."

The last time Colley and von Maltzahn met in a meaningful game, both poured in 31 points in March in an epic three-overtime contest the Phoenix won 67-57 in the semifinals of the NSSAF Division 1 girls’ championship that Citadel went on to claim in Antigonish.

Wednesday night’s game didn’t have the same drama but von Maltzahn did her part to keep the Tigers in the game, going 5-for-12 from the field, including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc. She scored all 15 of her points as Dalhousie played the Huskies even (47-47) over the final three quarters but couldn’t overcome the 10-point first-quarter deficit that ended up being the margin of victory.

Cailin Crosby added 12 and Laurie Girdwood and Harrison eight each for the Tigers, who are winless after two starts.

"There’s a few things we need to fix up but I think that definitely we made some progress tonight and we’ll take what we can get from it," said von Maltzahn, who like Colley has stepped right into a starter’s role with her university squad.

"It’s definitely a lot different, the game’s a lot quicker," the 18-year-old from Halifax said. "I expect a lot of myself so I think that there’s a lot of things I can still improve on, but I’m really enjoying it. I like to challenge myself so I’m gonna keep working hard."

( bfreeman@herald.ca)