MONTREAL -- Senior Alex Kiss-Rusk of Beaconsfield, Que., scored 18 points and Montreal native Marie-Love Michel recorded a "double-double" as the McGill University women's basketball team defeated Concordia 63-51 at the Centre Pierre-Charbonneau, Saturday, to capture their sixth consecutive RSEQ conference championship.

It was the 12th Quebec banner overall for the Martlets and the second of three championships won during the day for McGill, which also took the women's hockey title across town at Concordia, followed by an easy 82-65 conquest for the basketball Redmen over UQAM in the men's final.

"I think this is the sweetest (of the team's six straight crowns)," said Martlets head coach Ryan Thorne, whose squad overcame a troubling 2-5 start to the season but rallied to win seven of their last nine and finished second in the regular season, their lowest standing in eight years. "I heard a lot of talk this year about us not being the same team, that we were not that good. I thought there were a lot of disrespectful comments."

"Just because of the season we had, it was definitely a lot more unexpected," echoed Kiss-Rusk, who transferred to McGill in 2013 from from Virginia Tech. "A lot of people counted us out, so that makes it a little nicer."

The Martlets had a significant 51-30 rebounding advantage and an 8-6 edge in steals. Concordia committed 14 turnover's to McGill's 15 and both teams blocked five shots.

"We play each other so many times that we know each other's offence like it's our own," said Thorne of the Quebec league schedule that has each team playing every opponent four times. "Now it's just being in the right spot and the right time, so that's what we did. We were able to challenge shots, we were able to take some people away and not allow them to attack us too much and that was good."

Kiss-Rusk, a 6-foot-4 centre who was named this week as the league's most outstanding defensive player, shot 8-for-15 from the field and sank a pair of last-minute free-throws. She also pulled down seven rebounds, blocked four shots and stole one ball.

"I've played well against Concordia this season and last season as well so I was expecting to have a better game," she offered. "A lot of stuff didn't fall for me but my team came through for sure."

"She's six-four and they're not, that's the big difference," said Thorne of his star player, who is the tallest player in team history. "We've just got to move the ball to find her in an easier position, that's all."

Michel, 5-foot-9 winger, tallied 10 points and gathered 15 rebounds, including a dozen in the defensive zone. The physical education junior shot 4-for-8 from the field and 2-for-6 from the charity stripe.

Gladys Hakizimana, a social work sophomore from Montreal, was named for the second straight outing as McGill's player of the game. She also reached double-digits in scoring with 13 points. The 5-foot-7 guard shot 3-for-12 from the field and 7-for-9 from the line, grabbed five rebounds and dished out an impressive eight assists.

Jennifer Silver, a medical senior from Montreal, followed with nine points, to go along with four rebounds, one block and a steal. Geraldine Cabillo-Abante and Marika Guerin both chipped in six points. Cabillo-Abante, from St. Laurent, Que., corralled three rebounds and added two steals with an assist. Guerin, a graduating kinesiology major from Sorel, Que., had a all-around great game. Perfect on her six free-throw attempts, she collected four rebounds, had three assists and stole a game-high four balls.

Stingers player of the game Richelle Gregoire led her squad with 21 points in a losing cause.

"We made a conscious effort to try and close down some of those (running) lanes and not be out-denying everybody," Thorne explained as the team was unfamiliar with the Centre Pierre-Charbonneau. "This is a new venue for everyone so your shots aren't going to be great -- I don't think we even hit a three today -- so that's it, you've got to rely on getting the ball inside. If we take away those lanes, they don't have those tries so they've got to play outside. It makes it a little easier for us."

Indeed, McGill went 0-for-11 from three-point range. Despite that, they managed to shoot 34.9 per cent from the field (22/63) and were 19-for-26 from the free-throw line (73.1 per cent). The Stingers shot 31.7 per cent from the field (19/60), including 26.7 per cent from beyond the arc (4/15), and were 9-for-14 from the stripe (64.3 per cent).

The Martlets depart for Victoria on Tuesday (March 7) ahead of the national tournament, which will be hosted by UVic from March 9-12.

"We just got healthy and when we're healthy we've lost to two teams in the country -- Laval and Carleton," noted Thorne, whose squad went 11-2 in preseason play before being riddled with injuries. "Those are two of the top teams in the country (currently ranked No.3 and No.4, respectively) and other than that, we haven't lost to anybody when we're all there.

"Championships are going to be difficult, but I believe we're one of the top teams in the country and we've just got to go out and prove it. The Quebec conference is one of the top conferences and it's fortunate that we'll likely have two teams going -- Laval I believe will get the wildcard -- so I think we have a good chance of somebody coming home with a gold medal."

A Quebec team has only won the national title twice and the last time was 33 years ago when the Bishop's Gaiters claimed back-to-back titles in 1983 and 1984.