Box Score MONTREAL --
Quiera Lampkins, a junior from Gahanna, Ohio, scored 10 points, primarily on an 8-for-10 effort at the free-throw line, as the visiting Ohio University Bobcats nipped McGill 48-44 in women's preseason hoops at Love Competition Hall, Monday.
It was a sloppy affair in sweltering conditions that featured a whopping 58 turnovers, including 31 by the Bobcats.
Ohio led 13-9 after the opening quarter, 27-20 at the half and 37-29 after three. McGill outscored the visitors 15-11 in the final frame. McGill, which trailed 39-29 early in the final stanza, narrowed the gap to 43-39 with just over five minutes remaining.
"I think that we were just star-struck," said a visibly upset McGill head coach
Ryan Thorne, whose troops posted a 26-5 record overall last season. "We played like we were thinking 'It's Ohio, they're ranked No. 50 in the NCAA'. We've got to understand that we are taking on these NCAA teams to challenge ourselves. And to sit back and watch them have their way with us was very disappointing.
"It was a four-point game and they killed us on the glass. We threw the ball away like crazy... This was an opportunity for us to go at them because we (have a target on our backs) this year and there will be teams going after us. Everyone's going to want to show that they can beat McGill and if we let them impose their way, then we're going to be in trouble."
Senior point-guard
Dianna Ros of Montreal tallied a game-high dozen points to lead the Martlets, national finalists last spring, who dropped to 1-3 in exhibition play against NCAA teams. Ros added four rebounds and a pair of assists.
This was the first game of a six-game excursion to Canada for the Bobcats, an NCAA Div. 1 squad from Cincinnati, which finished atop the Mid-American Conference standings last year with a 16-2 record. Ohio posted a school best 27-5 record overall, winning their league title but faltering in their NCAA Tournament opener, a 74-55 loss to Arizona State.
The next highest scorers for Ohio were
Kiyanna Black and
Yamonie Jenkins with six points apiece.
Other top scorers for McGill were
Alex Kiss-Rusk with nine and senior All-Canadian forward
Mariam Sylla, who was making her first appearance of the season after an undisclosed training camp injury. Sylla came off the bench to tally eight points with a game-high nine rebounds in just 23 minutes of court time.
There wasn't much to choose from in the stats department. Ohio had a 40-36 edge in rebounds, a 10-6 advantage in steals and a 3-1 margin in blocked shots. They shot only 24.2 per cent from the field (15/62), 26.1 from three-point range (6/23) and 66.7 from the line (12/18), compared to McGill, which connected on an equally anemic 26.6 (17/64), 13.0 (3/23) and 63.6 (7/11), respectively.
Ohio travels overnight to the provincial capital in Quebec City and will confront Laval on Aug. 18, followed by games at Carleton (Aug. 19), a doubleheader on Aug. 20 against Bishop's and Ottawa -- both at Champlain College -- and will close out their international tour against a CEGEP All-star team at Champlain on Aug. 21.
McGill now gets a few days off to lick their wounds before resuming their preseason with a week-long trip to Greece, Aug. 29 to Sept. 6, based in Athens, where they will confront three teams from the Greek pro league. The tour, was in part coordinated by long-time McGill assistant coach
Helen Magdalinos and basketball legend
Annie Constantinidis, a 5-foot-3 point-guard from Athens who starred for the Martlets from 1980 to 1984 and graduated as the team's all-time leading scorer while earning a master's degree in exercise physiology.
It will be the third overseas tour for the Martlets, who also played in Barbados in 2009 and went to France in 1999.
SOURCE:
Earl ZukermanMcGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012
