KINGSTON, Ont. (February 12, 2016)- Abby Dixon picked up a game-high 17 points and made some key jumpers down the stretch in the fourth quarter, helping the Queen's Gaels women's basketball team hold off the surging Western Mustangs with a 69-64 victory on Friday evening at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC).
 
Dixon (North Vancouver, B.C.) was 50% (7-14) from the field, while Robyn Pearson (Toronto) added 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to pick up her seventh double-double of the regular season. The Gaels (12-3) move one win ahead of the CIS No. 5 ranked Ryerson Rams (11-3), who were idle on Friday night.
 
Mackenzie Puklicz tallied 17 points in a losing cause for the Mustangs (12-4), who are now tied with No. 10 Windsor for first-place in the OUA West division.


 
GAME FLOW
After the Mustangs opened the scoring, the Gaels responded with 10 straight points over the span of the following three minutes. Coming out of their own timeout, Western turned over the ball again, and the hosts pushed their lead into double-digits at the 4:15 mark of the first.
 
A three-pointer by Marianne Alarie (Sudbury, Ont.) made it 15-straight points before the Mustangs were able to stop the run with a free-throw. It was a forgettable quarter for the OUA West leaders, who sank just two of their 14 shot attempts, while the hosts used seven different scorers and a 60.0% offensive efficiency to take a commanding 26-9 lead at the end of the first.  

MUST SEE - @jennywright13 with the steal tied 61-61 and @abbydixon7 goes the distance. Queen`s beats Western 69-64 pic.twitter.com/QvdT2aEFIj

— #ChaGheill (@queensgaels) February 13, 2016

 The Mustangs found their offensive footing in the second period, cutting the lead down to 12 midway through the quarter, helped in large part by three baskets from Caroline Wolynski. Two free throws from Puklicz brought the deficit down to 10, and a three from Laura Graham made it a single-digits contest with just over two minutes remaining in the half.
 
The Queen's offence cooled off in the second, but the women went into the locker room shooting 46.2% overall and with a 10-point lead. Pearson led all players with 10 points in the first half, while Dixon added six.
 
Four consecutive Mustang points brought the guests within six points of the lead to start the second half of play, but eight-straight from the Gaels, including back-to-back three-point plays by Jenny Wright (Kingston) and Alarie, pushed the lead back up to double-digits.
 
The conference's leading scorer caught fire soon after, however, as Puklicz scored eight points in a row as part of a Mustangs 11-0 run, bringing the visitors within a possession of the lead. Queen's would not relinquish their hold on the lead throughout the rest of the period, scoring the last six points of the third to take a nine-point lead into the final quarter.
 
Maddy Horst opened the fourth quarter with a three after over two minutes had expired without a basket from either team. Horst then picked up an offensive board and the put-back, and then followed that with another bucket from beyond the arc, cutting the Gael lead to a single point.
 
The Queen's offence went quiet in the early part of the fourth quarter, as the hosts did not score their first point of the period until there was 3:40 remaining. During that time, two made free throws by Graham completed the comeback as Western took the lead midway through the quarter.
 
After Dixon's jumper scored to snap their scoreless run, the Gaels tied the game 61-61 heading into the final minutes of regulation. The teams exchanged fast-break points, which included Dixon's second and third baskets in a row, and a lay-up by Alarie gave the Gaels a four-point lead with under a minute remaining.
 
A missed Mustangs shot was followed with two important free-throws made by Pearson with 8.3 seconds remaining, allowing the women to survive a threatening comeback bid by Western to earn their third-straight victory.
 
FINAL SAY
"We really lost our momentum there in the second quarter," said Head Coach Dave Wilson. "I thought a good takeaway was the fact that at one point they got the lead down to two, at another they actually took over the lead, and we did not panic. We stayed calm and were able to respond positively to it. You know, you get an early big lead and it changes how the game is perceived and played, so that makes it that much more important to stay calm when the push-back happens and battle through it."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
19- The Gaels led by as many as 19 points in the first quarter
7- Queen's is 7-0 this season when Robyn Pearson records a double-double
5- Marianne Alarie now has 10 or more points in five of her last seven games
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels will look to win their fourth in a row on Saturday afternoon when they take on the defending national champion Windsor Lancers. The game between Queen's and Windsor is part of the NBA All-Star Weekend in Toronto, and will take place at the Enercare Centre at 4:00 p.m.