Box Score
MONTREAL -- Mariam Sylla registered her sixth "double-double" of the regular season as No.8-ranked McGill rallied from an 11-point deficit to defeat UQAM 62-56 in women's basketball at Love Competition Hall, Thursday.
 
UQAM, which entered the game one win shy of the division-leading Martlets, came out gunning. They scored an impressive 24 points in the opening quarter to take an 11-point lead into the second frame.
 
"It is hard to prepare for their pressure, they are really good at it," said McGill head coach Ryan Thorne who suggested the hot start was sparked from UQAM's aggressive play mixed in with a solid defensive system, "We were tentative to start and they were just much more aggressive than we were." 
 
The Martlets, who have been averaging a league best 44.5 points per game, quickly got back on track defensively in the second quarter limiting UQAM to just 10 points.

"We fought back and picked up our aggressiveness on defence," added Thorne, whose troops clawed their way back and found themselves trailing 34-25 at the half.
 
McGill got the offence firing putting up 20 in the third quarter and finally moved ahead 45-43, taking their first lead of the game into the final frame where they never looked back.
 
Sylla, a 6-foot-1 centre from Guinea who ranks third in RSEQ scoring and leads the league in rebounding, tied for a team-high 12 points and grabbed a game-high dozen rebounds. She only shot 4-for-16 from the floor but went 4-for-5 from the foul-line, dished out a team-high five assists and had one steal.

"No matter what we do, we are going to play through Mariam," noted Thorne. "People are going to collapse on her inside and it will open up our perimeter game. We also made an adjustment putting Mariam in a different position, letting her attack from the high-post instead of from the low-post where they could collapse on her."
 
Francoise Charest, a fifth-year point guard from Quebec City, returned to action after missing four games with a lower-body injury and matched Sylla's 12 points, collecting them all from beyond the arc, where she went 4-for-5.

"That's our team leader; she is the quarterback of our team," said Thorne of his co-captain. "She controls the pace and the girls feel more confident with her on the floor."
 
Also contributing for the Martlets was senior Gabriela Hebert and Carolann Cloutier, a first-year transfer from UMass. Hebert had seven points, seven rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Cloutier gave McGill solid secondary guard play with seven points and three assists.
 
Questeline Celestin led the way for UQAM with 20 points, 13 of those in the first quarter as McGill did an outstanding job limiting her the rest of the game. She also racked up six assists and pulled down five rebounds. Camille Michaud was the only other Citadins player to reach double digits with 12 points.

McGill shot 39.3 per cent from the field (24/61), went 5-for-10 from three-point range and sank 9 of 14 from the line (64.3%). UQAM shot 41.8 per cent from the floor (23/55) and 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.
 
The cross-town rivals will battle again on Saturday at the UQAM Centre Sportif . Tip-off is slated for 5 p.m. and the game will be webcast with a link for streaming available in the "Upcoming Events" section of the McGill Athletics website..
 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ryne Bondy and Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012