MONTREAL -- Alex Kiss-Rusk and Mariam Sylla each posted a "double-double" as the No.2-ranked McGill Martlets squeaked past Concordia 72-70 in an overtime hoops thriller at Love Competition Hall, Saturday.

Kiss-Rusk, a 6-foot-4 centre from Beaconsfield, Que., carried her team with a career-high 28 points and pulled down a massive 16 rebounds to go along with one block and one steal in 34 minutes of court time. The third-year psychology major went 12-for-20 from the floor and 4 of 10 from the charity stripe, with three of her freebies in overtime.
 
"She's being aggressive and getting some good opportunities and making the most of those," said McGill head coach Ryan Thorne. "Alex is one of the biggest girls on the court and we've got to make sure that we play through her. When she gets good looks, she knows how to finish."

Kiss-Rusk and Sylla now hav racked up seven and six "double-doubles", respectively, on the season overall.

Sylla, who had missed the two previous game while nursing a leg injury, saw only 18 minutes of court time but was extremely efficient with 10 points and she dominated the glass, pulling down 10 boards. The 6-foot-1 forward from Guinea shot 3-for-4 from the field and was perfect on all four of her attempts from the line.

"She's a league all-star, an all-Canadian and the conference player of the year," noted Thorne. "So having her back in the lineup gives everybody else a little more confidence and our rotation shores up a bit. She brings that grit and rebounding that everyone else has to pull together hard to do. But she has the ability to do that all by herself.

"Alex and Mariam both did a great job looking out (for the height mismatches) and we knocked down some key shots today."
 
Concordia led 14-8 after the opening quarter but the Martlets rallied to outscore their cross-town rivals 19-11 in the second to take a 27-25 lead into halftime. The game continued to be a tight affair in the third as McGill had only a 46-43 edge heading into the final frame.
 
The Martlets were in control most of the fourth quarter and saw themselves ahead by as much as eight points. They led 64-59 with a 1:15 remaining until a Tamara Pinard-Devos layup and a Richelle Gregoire long ball tied it up at 64-64. Both teams had a shot at winning it in the final 15 seconds of regulation time but came up short.
 
McGill outscored the Stingers 8-6 in the five-minute overtime period. Co-captain Gabriella Hebert, a 5-foot-8  forward from Trois-Rivieres, Que.,  iced it for the Martlets knocking down a late free throw and then came up with a loose ball hustle play which gave Concordia no time to get a last-second shot off.
 
Senior point guard and co-captain Dianna Ros, the league's leader in assists, was nursing an undisclosed injury and did not play for the second straight game.
 
Marilyse Roy-Viau was one of three Stingers to reach double figures in scoring with 23 points but she went 0-for-5 at the foul-line with all of her misses occuring in overtime. Her supporting cast included former McGill star Marie-Eve Martin (17), who was sporting new and bold ink art on her arm, and Richelle Gregoire (16).
 
"They're a tough team, they got three all-stars in their lineup with Marilyse, Marie-Eve and Richelle," said McGill head coach Ryan Thorne. "They're really talented players and they put us out of position sometimes, when we we're not disciplined as we should've been. They followed their game plan and were relatively successful (in keeping it close the entire game)."

McGill, which had an enormous 45-16 rebounding advantage, shot 48 per cent from the floor (24/50) and drained four of eight treys, compared to Concordia, which shot 45.2 (28/62) and made eight of 17 from beyond the arc.
 
The Martlets (7-1) will now get four days to prepare for a home-and-home series against the last-place Bishop's Gaiters (0-8). They will start at home with tip-off set for 6.p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 28, at Love Competition Hall.

MARTLET MURMURS: It was like old home week for three members of the Concordia women's coaching staff as they are McGill grads and knew their way around the Currie Gym better than most... Stingers first-year head coach Tenicha Gittens made her coaching debut as an assistant at McGill under then Martlets bench boss Lisen Moore, who is currently serving as manager in the McGill varsity sports office.. Two of the Concordia assistants, namely Denburk Reid and Sarah Gagne, both played five season of varsity hoops for the Redmen and Martlets, respectively.

CIS STANDINGS

CIS SCORING LEADERS

McGILL TEAM & INDIVIDUAL STATS

 

Pos	RSEQ STANDINGS	GP	W	L	PF	PA	WIN%	GBL	PTS
1	McGill	8	7	1	506	431	0.875	0.0	14
2	Laval	10	7	3	615	540	0.700	1.0	14
3	UQAM	8	6	2	505	409	0.750	1.0	12
4	Concordia	10	2	8	545	585	0.200	6.0	4
5	Bishop's	8	0	8	356	562	0.000	7.0	0

FOR MORE INFO CONTACT:
Ryne Bondy or Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012