Sylla scores 29 points in thrilla at McGilla as Martlets rally over Laval

Mariam Sylla

Box Score
MONTREAL – Rookie Mariam Sylla registered an impressive "double-double as McGill rallied from a 15-point deficit to defeat Laval 71-62 before 201 at Love Competition Hall, Saturday afternoon.

GAME STATS: http://www.sportetudiant-stats.com/universitaire/basketball-f/stats/1213/f14.htm

The 6-foot-1 forward from Guinea registered game-highs in both points (29) and rebounds (11). She connected on 9-of-19 field-goal attempts, made 11 of 13 free-throws and was credited with a pair of blocked shots.

"These are the kind of games that we would expect from Mariam," said Ryan Thorne, head coach of the Martlets. "She's been in a bit of slump but she played amazing (today). She started out like this at the beginning of the (exhibition season) but when the actual regular season started (in November), she was playing against more people that know her (style), so she had to do different things. She's been adjusting and you can see the progress and development in her game right now."

Marie-Pascale Nadeau of Levis, Que., scored 20 points and teammate Elyse Jobin of Moncton added 16 in a losing cause for Laval, which has now lost five straight meetings with the Martlets, dating back to a 74-68 Rouge et Or decision on Nov. 12, 2011.

McGill had a 36-22 edge in rebounding, including a lopsided 20-3 advantage in their defensive zone.

"We send specific people to the glass and sometimes, based on how our set plays run, those people will be on the perimeter and just not crash (the boards) so we didn't have the right numbers there (earlier in the year)," explained Thorne. "We spent some time on that over the (month-long holiday) break and it was something that we looked at and focused on. We can see the fruits of our labour over the last two games now."

The Martlets led 18-12 after the first quarter and appeared to be in control with a 35-31 advantage at the half but the Rouge et Or offence ignited in the third quarter, outscoring McGill 17-9. With just over nine minutes remaining in the contest, Laval took a 50-44 lead before McGill mounted their comeback to outscore Laval 27-14 in the final stanza.

"We got down in the third quarter just by miscommunication," Thorne explained. "They changed up some things, put four guards out there and it kind of messed us up on the perimeter. So we had to adjust and… in the fourth quarter I think (we) were more focused and if we didn't have someone (open) in transition, (we) looked for someone inside. Either Mariam or Anneth (Anneth Him-Lazarenko) were going to have an advantage by the way they were playing."

Team captain Francoise Charest, a 5-foot-6 point-guard from Quebec City, was the only other McGill player in double figures. The industrial relations senior tallied 15 points on 5-for-14 shooting, including a 3-for-7 effort from three-point range. She went 2-for-4 from the line, grabbed five rebounds and had one steal.

Rounding out the scoring for the Martlets was Him-Lazarenko with nine, Marie-Pier Bastrash (7), Helene Bibeau (5), Dianna Ros (4) and Gabriela Hebert (2).

"We've got some pretty good leadership in our point-guard (Charest) and fifth-year player (Him-Lazarenko). Those are players who understand what I'm looking for... They just settled it down. Even though overall we're young, but at key spots, which is our point-guard and our five (forward), there's some maturity there which allows us to settle and be confident in what we can do."

The Martlets shot 34.3 per cent from the floor, 31.3 from the arc and 75.0 from the line, compared to Laval, which replied on 42.0, 28.6 and 94.1 (16/17), respectively.

McGill improved to 4-2 and sits third in the RSEQ conference, two points behind division-leading Concordia (5-2) and UQAM (5-2). The Martlets will travel to Bishop's (0-6) on Jan. 16 before returning home to host UQAM on Jan. 19. The fourth-place Rouge et Or Laval dropped to 3-5 and will play at UQAM on Jan. 16.

Newspaper Box Score

MARTLETS 71, LAVAL 62

01/12/13 17h00 at Love Competition Hall

ROUGE ET OR
Marie-Pascale Nadeau 8-13 3-4 20; Elyse Jobin 6-10 3-3 16; Gabrielle Girard
2-8 4-4 9; Melodie Laniel-Dion 2-5 2-2 6; Jannie Jacques 1-6 4-4 6; Marjorie
Ferland 1-3 0-0 3; Marie-Eve Caouette 1-4 0-0 2; Vanni-Eve P-Liard 0-0 0-0
0; Rachel Blouin-Brochu 0-1 0-0 0; Catherine A-Cote 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-50
16-17 62.

MARTLETS
Mariam Sylla 9-19 11-13 29; Francoise Charest 5-14 2-4 15; A Him-Lazarenko
4-14 1-2 9; Marie-Pier Bastrash 2-4 2-3 7; Helene Bibeau 2-5 0-0 5; Dianna
Ros 1-9 2-2 4; Gabriela Hebert 1-1 0-0 2; Valerie L'Ecuyer 0-0 0-0 0;
Arianne Duchesne 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 24-70 18-24 71.

Rouge et or...................   12   19   17   14  -   62
Martlets......................   18   17    9   27  -   71

3-point goals--Rouge et or 4-14 (Gabrielle Girard 1-2; Elyse Jobin 1-4;
Marie-Pascale Nadeau 1-2; Marjorie Ferland 1-2; Marie-Eve Caouette 0-1;
Jannie Jacques 0-1; Melodie Laniel-Dion 0-2), Martlets 5-16 (Francoise
Charest 3-7; Helene Bibeau 1-2; Marie-Pier Bastrash 1-1; Arianne Duchesne
0-3; Dianna Ros 0-3). Fouled out--Rouge et or-None, Martlets-None.
Rebounds--Rouge et or 22 (Marie-Pascale Nadeau 9), Martlets 36 (Mariam Sylla
11). Assists--Rouge et or 6 (Elyse Jobin 2), Martlets 9 (Dianna Ros 5).
Total fouls--Rouge et or 18, Martlets 17. Technical fouls--Rouge et or-None,
Martlets-Mariam Sylla.