Ally Forsey had a premonition during the week of practice leading up to the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) games this weekend that things might not go well for Memorial Sea-Hawks women’s basketball team against University Reds.
Turns out she was right.
“We had a really bad week of practice and it translated into our poor play against UNB, especially Saturday night,” said Forsey.
The visiting Varsity Reds (7-1) beat Memorial Sea-Hawks (4-4) 94-78 Sunday afternoon at the Field House for a sweep of the two-game series after thrashing the Lady Hawks 94-65 Saturday night.
“We came really well today (Sunday), but we kind of fell apart before the half. We let them (Varsity Reds) get back into it,” said Forsey.
MUN led 28-22 after the first quarter Sunday but only held a 46-45 advantage at the half and were down 64-60 by the end of the third quarter.
“Hopefully we can learn something from this and move forward,” said Forsey, who led the team with 25 points and nine rebounds.
Forsey said she is anticipating a tough week of practices coming up based on the team’s dismal play against UNB.
“Everyone has to come (to practice) with tons of energy and I know (coach) Doug (Partridge) is going to expect a lot from us because we didn’t bring it this weekend. Everyone had better be ready to work hard and do what we are supposed to do,” said Forsey.
UNB coach Jeff Speedy was more than pleased with his team’s sweep of the Sea-Hawks at the Field House.
“I’ve never won over here (at MUN), so this was a new experience for me,” said Speedy outside his team’s dressing room.
“We played a great game yesterday (Saturday) but we were on our heels a bit today (Sunday). However, the girls found their rhythm in the second half.”
UNB outscored MUN 30-18 in the fourth quarter.
“MUN played a lot better today (Sunday) and of course we knew they would. I just wasn’t happy with our defensive effort and and rebounding effort and we addressed that in the third quarter and it allowed us to get some easier shots going the other way because we got some stops.”
Speedy says his team is fortunate to be able to score inside and outside and having that balanced attack “makes it tough to guard.”
The UNB mentor said he still believes there are five or six teams capable of winning the AUS title, “so we’re just going to keep trying to get better every week and hopefully play bette March than we did this weekend, although I’m happy with our play this weekend.”
Memorial University is playing host to the AUS championship March 4-6 at the Field House.
jbrowne@thetelegram.com
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