MONTREAL --
Alex Kiss-Rusk of Beaconsfield, Que., registered a "double-double" as eighth-ranked McGill rallied from an early 14-point deficit to defeat Concordia 59-49 in RSEQ women's basketball, Thursday. The game was played before 533 fans on a noisy "Pots and Pans Night" at Love Competition Hall.
It marked the first win of the regular season for the Martlets (1-2), snapped a two-game losing skid and extended their win streak over Concordia to 10, dating back to a 61-54 loss on Feb. 22, 2014.
The Stingers, who scored the first 14 points of the contest, led 14-6 after the first quarter and carried a 32-23 advantage into the intermission. But McGill narrowed the deficit to 39-37 after three and dominated the final frame 22-10.
"For a team that's had such success to start 0-2, this becomes a big game," said Martlets head coach
Ryan Thorne of the slow start. "And it's at home in front of a big crowd, so I think there were some nerves there. I didn't think there was a reason to call a time-out, I felt that we just had to grind through it, and that's what we did.
"We do have some mature players out there who are going to be able to bring us back," he continued. "We had two big shots and that just started us rolling a bit. We talked about it happening little-by-little -- there's no 20-point shot -- so just little-by-little, keep grinding away. If we can play inside-out basketball we'll be okay and that's what we did down the stretch."
Kiss-Rusk, a psychology senior, earned 22 points and nabbed 11 rebounds. She shot 11-for-16 from the field, collected nine of her rebounds in the defensive zone, and was credited with two assists, a pair of blocks and a steal.
"She's one of the biggest players in the league and she's a focus for us: we play inside-out basketball because of her," said Thorne of his 6-foot-4 centre, the tallest player in McGill basketball history. "I believe her first two shots were fade-aways and if we're relying on our 'big' getting fade-aways, then we're in trouble. So we did have a bit of a chat about that and let her get something closer to the basket. But also our guards have got to do a better job of finding angles to feed her. Trying to feed her from far-out makes it really difficult -- the rotations happen a lot quicker and then they're doubling her. I think we did a better job of that in the second half and this win is the result of that."
Marika Guerin, a 5-foot-4 kinesiology junior from Sorel, Que., contributed 18 points, from five treys and three free throws. She went 5-for-6 from beyond the arc and was perfect from the charity stripe, and added a rebound, a steal, and a trio of assists. Guerin also had a rare four-point play after being flattened like a pancake while connecting on a long-range bomb. She drained the accompanying free-throw, almost matter-of-factly, narrowing Concordia's lead to 37-35 with just under three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
"She showed good leadership and she shoots the ball well," said Thorne. "When you leave her open she's going to knock down some shots. She shot the ball with confidence and that actually helped us turn it around. The players, the team, they're looking for her in those situations and they'll give up easy baskets to find her, and she really helped pull us out. It showed she's got great confidence and we have confidence in her."
Jennifer Silver, a fourth-year medicine student from Montreal, was the other Martlet to reach double-figures in scoring, with a dozen points and eight rebounds. She was 4-for-10 from the field including 1-for-2 on three-pointers, and sank three of four free-throw attempts.
Marilyse Roy-Viau led the Stingers with 16 points, while teammate
Richelle Gregoire followed with 15.
McGill had a 37-22 rebounding margin and a 3-0 edge in blocked shots. Concordia stole 13 balls compared to three by the Martlets and had a lopsided 24-12 advantage in turnovers.
McGill shot 43.4 per cent from the field (23/53), 40 per cent from three-point range (6/15) and 77.8 per cent from the stripe (7/9). The Stingers shot 31.7 per cent from the field (19/60), 26.3 from beyond the arc (5/19) and went 6-for-10 on free-throws.
The Martlets (1-2) visit Bishop's (0-3) on Saturday (Nov. 26) in a game that will be streamed live at 2 p.m. on the
Gaiters website. Concordia (1-3) faces UQAM (3-0) on Dec. 2.
| 2016-17 RSEQ Women's Basketball Standings (updated) • Classement de la saison régulière du RSEQ |
|
|
| 1 |
Laval |
3 |
3 |
0 |
206 |
162 |
1.000 |
0.0 |
6 |
| 2 |
UQAM |
3 |
3 |
0 |
196 |
177 |
1.000 |
0.0 |
6 |
| 3 |
McGill |
3 |
1 |
2 |
156 |
170 |
0.333 |
2.0 |
2 |
| 4 |
Concordia |
4 |
1 |
3 |
231 |
259 |
0.250 |
2.5 |
2 |
| 5 |
Bishop's |
3 |
0 |
3 |
174 |
195 |
0.000 |
3.0 |
0 |
