MONTREAL --
Stephanie Blais from Sherbrooke, Que., and
Jennifer Silver of Montreal each scored 16 points as No.2 ranked McGill stretched their win streak to six, defeating the winless Bishop's Gaiters 83-46 in RSEQ women's basketball at Love Competition Hall on Thursday.
It was the 16th straight win over the Gaiters for McGill, which produced their highest offensive output of the regular season and was one point shy of their season-high in exhibition play -- despite the absence of injured all-stars
Mariam Sylla and
Dianna Ros.
Blais, a 6-foot-2 international business major, shot 6-for-9 from the floor, including 4-for-6 from three-point range, where her .482 shooting percentage leads the conference. She also pulled down four rebounds. Silver, a third-year medical student, was a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor. She nabbed three rebounds and made a trio of steals, along with a blocked shot.
No Martlet played over 27 minutes as coach
Ryan Thorne rotated the bench, which contributed 37 points. Thirteen of those came from six-foot freshman
Fredericke Laflamme of Trois-Rivieres, Que., who went 4-for-6 from the field, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. She also sank both her free throws, merited an assist and collected a pair of defensive rebounds in just 12 minutes on the court.
"I think Fred's going to be great over her time here at McGill," said Thorne of the rookie's performance. "We were able to give (bench players) more time, so you got an opportunity to see what they can really do."
Centre
Alex Kiss-Rusk of Beaconsfield, Que., also reached double-digits despite an unusually-low 17 minutes of playing time. The 6-foot-4 psychology student tallied 14 points, on 7-for-9 shooting from the field, grabbed five rebounds and blocked a shot.
The Martlets shot a whopping 61.8 per cent from the field (34/55) and a stellar 59.1 from three-point range (13/22). The result was never in doubt, with McGill leading 26-10 after the first quarter, 45-25 at halftime, and 70-33 to open the fourth.
"We had a lot of shooters on the floor at all times, so that gave us great opportunities," explained Thorne of the Martlets' offensive success. "Sometimes we have a tendency to just make it a free-for-all, but I think we were a little more disciplined offensively, finding the right shot for the right people."
Rounding out the scoring for the Martlets was
Marika Guerin (9 pts., 3 rbs., 6 assists), rookie
Gladys Hakizimana (8 pts., 4 rbs., 1 steal, 12 assists) and
Geraldine Cabillo-Abante (7pts).
Freshman
Ashley Milhomme of Repentigny, Que., led the offence for Bishop's with 16 points, while teammate
Noemie Hamel-Petit, from Magog, Que., pulled down eight rebounds for the Gaiters.
McGill had a 27-22 lead in rebounds, a 9-5 advantage in turnovers and a narrow 15-14 difference in steals. Bishop's held a 3-2 edge in blocked shots.
The visitors sank 19 of 56 attempts (33.9%) and made five of 18 treys. Neither team was strong from the free-throw line, where McGill succeeded on two of only five opportunities and Bishop's was 3-for-9.
McGill improved to 8-1 and leads the five-team conference with 16 points, while last-place Bishop's dropped to 0-9. The teams will meet each other again on Saturday (Jan. 30) at the Mitchell Gym in Lennoxville. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. The game will be webcast at this
link.
MARTLET MURMURS: McGill co-captains
Mariam Sylla and
Dianna Ros were kept out of the lineup with hamstring and ankle injuries, respectively, sustained two weeks ago against Laval. Neither are expected to suit up on Saturday's rematch at Bishop's... The Gaiters were guided by former Redmen bench boss
Craig Norman, who coached at McGill from 2004-05 to 2009-10, and recently took over the BU helm for
Alex Perno, currently on a leave of absence.
FOR FURTHER INFO CONTACT:
Kirsten Whelan or
Earl ZukermanMcGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012
