MONTREAL -- Frederique Potvin tallied 18 points and Alex Kiss-Rusk and Marie-Love Michel each recorded "double-doubles" as second-ranked McGill defeated No.8 Concordia 70-55 in RSEQ women's basketball, Thursday, at the Concordia Gym. The Stingers wore pink outfits in their annual "Shoot for the Cure" breast cancer fundraiser.

It marked the Martlets' first win at ConU since Feb.13, 2016, snapping a two-game losing streak at the John Dore Court. Although some results are missing, the Martlets are now 63-61 lifetime versus the Stingers, dating back to 1981.

The Stingers took an 18-14 lead after the first quarter and maintained a 34-31 edge at halftime, but McGill moved ahead 47-44 after three and closed out the fourth quarter 23-11. All of the "Fab Five" Martlets starters reached double digits in scoring, with both double-double recipients collecting more rebounds than points. The last time that five Martlets had scored 10 points or more was also at the hands of the Stingers, almost exactly a year ago, in a 90-62 victory, jan. 21, 2017.

McGill jumped into an early 10-0 lead but then hit the doldrums as the Stingers went on an 18-4 run to close out the quarter.

"I think that maybe we're too comfortable in our situation and we just gotta go and start playing aggressive basketball from the beginning," said relieved McGill head coach Ryan Thorne. "We've been falling into a habit of coming through at the end. It's great that we can finish strong but we need to start stronger and play more consistently."

One of the turning points came on the last play of the first half, when Concordia was up 34-29 and called a time-out with four seconds remaining. Coralie Dumont then in-bounded the ball upcourt from behind the Stingers own basket to teammate Ashley Moss at mid-court but she inexplicably slapped the ball back towards towards Dumont. McGill rookie Kamsi Ogbudibe intercepted the pass for an uncontested buzzer-beating jump shot, narrowing the gap to 34-31.

The comeback was completed early in the third when junior Geraldine Cabillo-Abante hit a jumper followed by a trey to regain the lead for McGill at 39-36 with 6:10 remaining in the stanza and the Martlets never trailed after that.

Potvin, a 5-foot-10 guard from Ste. Julie., Que., shot 7-for-19 from the field, including 1-for-6 from three-point range, and sank three of four free-throws. She also corralled four rebounds, had two assists and a pair of steals.

Kiss-Rusk, a 6-foot-4 centre from Beaconsfield, Que., scored 10 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for her seventh consecutive double-double. She shot 4-for-13 from the floor and 2-for-5 from the charity stripe, to go along with four blocks, one assist and a steal.

Michel, a 5-foot-9 winger from Montreal, tallied 10 points and pulled down 13 rebounds through 23 minutes on the court. The physical education senior shot 5-for-7 from the field, had two assists and stole one ball.

Cabillo-Abante, a native of  St. Laurent, Que., had 14 points, a game-high five assists, four rebounds and one steal, while teammate Gladys Hakizimana of Montreal netted 10 points, six rebounds, one assist and a steal.

Concordia was led by Aurélie d'Anjou-Drouin with 10 points.

McGill shot 35.5 per cent from the field (27/76), including 4-for-20 from three-point range, and went 12-for-19 from the charity stripe. The Stingers shot 31.8 per cent from the field (21/66), went 5-for-17 from beyond the arc and 8-for-11 on free throws. The Martlets held a 47-36 rebounding advantage, a 9-4 margin in steals and a 5-1 difference in blocks. they committed eight turnovers to Concordia's 12.

McGill (6-1) hosts the Stingers (3-2) at Love Competition Hall on Saturday (Jan. 13) in the second leg of the home-and-home, with tip-off slated for 4 p.m.
 

2017-18 RSEQ Women's Basketball Standings • Classement de la saison régulière de basketball  féminin

Pos	TEAM	GP	W	L	PF	PA	PCT	GBL.	PTS
1	McGill	7	6	1	480	390	0.857	0.0	12
2	Concordia	5	3	2	331	338	0.600	2.0	6
3	Laval	5	3	2	298	277	0.600	2.0	6
4	Bishop's	6	2	4	357	404	0.333	3.5	4
5	UQAM	7	1	6	392	449	0.143	5.0	2