The girls’ 1948-1949 varsity basketball team of enjoyed an outstanding season, winning nine out of ten games. Included in their lineup that season were several performers who had starred on the Provincial Intercollegiate Championship teams of 1946-1947 and 1947-1948.
The garnet and blue clad hoopsters competed in four exhibition contests that season, winning each by a comfortable margin. In competition against the Halifax Y.W.CA. they scored 26-4 and 13-4 triumphs. Against Kings College and Queen Elizabeth High graduates they recorded victories by respective scores of 24-5 and 31-19.
Entering the Nova Scotia senior playoff round, staged in Halifax, the Axettes defeated the Provincial Normal College, 34-20, as Mary-Ann Brooks and Barb Smith each scored ten points. In their second encounter of the competition and missing several of their regulars, the Margaret MacKinnon -coached team lost their lone tilt of the season. In this 24-16 loss to Dalhousie, Lois Lockhart scored a total of nine points.
During the opening game of the Provincial Intercollegiate playoff action the Acadia team started slowly, falling behind 10-4 at half time as Mary-Ann Brooks and Thelma Chew were their only scorers. However, in the second half of the game they made a dramatic come back as Brooks, with six points, the experienced Beth Brinton and newcomer Barb Smith played an exciting game in posting an 18-16 victory over Dalhousie.
In the final game the offensive unit of Brooks, Lois Lockhart and Mildred Hawkes sparkled in the first half and with Lockhart, Smith and Chew in fine form in the second half, the Axettes outscored Dalhousie 22-10, thus winning the provincial tide for the seventh successive season.
The initial game of the Maritime Intercollegiate finals held at Memorial Gymnasium with Mount Allison providing the opposition, the newly-crowned Nova Scotia champs posted an exciting 16-13 victory.
In the final game of the two game total-point series the Axettes were down, 6-5, at the end of the first half. During the second half, the Acadia team again were outscored, 10-8, while Dalhousie enjoyed a 16-13 lead at the end of the game. With the total- point series deadlock at 29-all, the teams returned to the court for overtime play. In this extra period the Axettes outscored their opponents, 10-4, as Barb Smith and Thelma Chew each had four points and Mary-Ann Brooks a single basket.
With a 23-20 victory, Coach, Margaret MacKinnon, and her management team of Gertrude Silliker and Mary Baker and performers Beth Brinton, Mary-Ann Brooks, Thelma Chew, Mildred Hawkes, Lois Lockhart, Mary Manzer, Barbara (Bobby) McLellan, Margaret Menzies, Barbara Smith and Jennie (Sandy) Stirling they emerged as the Tri-Province Intercollegiate Basketball Champions.
It is an honour to welcome for induction to the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame the members of the outstanding Acadia Axettes 1948-1949 Basketball Team.
