MONTREAL -- Senior Alex Kiss-Rusk registered her eighth consecutive "double-double" and rookie Kiana Scantlebury led a strong defensive effort as No.2 McGill defeated eighth-ranked Concordia 63-51 in RSEQ women's basketball at Love Competition Hall on Saturday. The Martlets were dressed in pink as this was the team's annual "Shoot for the Cure" fundraiser for breast cancer.

It was the ninth consecutive victory for the Martlets who have now won four straight meetings with the Stingers and 15 of the last 17.

The hosts held a 20-14 lead after one and were comfortably ahead 38-20 at halftime, then held off a Concordia comeback attempt as the Stingers matched them at 15-15 in the third quarter. The Martlets returned to form in the final frame, which they took 16-10.

"I don't think we put anything together that was different," said McGill head coach Ryan Thorne, comparing the strong start to a 70-55 come-from-behind win at Concordia on Thursday. "It was the same team, they started the same line-up. The difference was just our energy. We had a better energy to start this game and it carried through."

Kiss-Rusk, a 6-foot-4 centre from Beaconsfield, Que., tallied 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. The 24-year-old master's student shot 10-for-19 from the field and 2-for-4 from the free throw line, to go along with one block and a steal.

"She got out of her head and just played basketball and that's all we ask of her," noted Thorne of his all-Canadian senior who had not looked like her usual dominant self in her previous two contests. "For all the girls right now, what we're trying to focus on is three things: effort, communication and execution. And each one aids the other, so if we have a solid effort and good energy, you'll hear that through our communication and our talk, and that'll just lead to us executing better. If we're communicating well, I think we'll be more successful (in our execution)."

Scantlebury, a 5-foot-4 point guard from Chateauguay, Que., had two assists in 16 minutes off the bench and didn't take any shots, but was effective in limiting Concordia's offence.

"She came in and brought us up," said Thorne of his 20-year-old social work freshman from Dawson College. "It had nothing to do with points, just her ability defensively. She made things tough on the ball-handler, which made her passes tough, and just gave us tips in transition which gave us easy baskets. She, in my opinion, was our best player today, just because of what she brought that... changed the game dramatically."

Frederique Potvin, a 5-foot-10 guard from Ste. Julie, Que., reached double figures for the 13th consecutive outing and 18th time in 20 games overall. She collected 15 points, four defensive rebounds and  a game-high five assists. The social work senior shot 6-for-15 from the floor, including 1-for-5 from beyond the arc, and was perfect on both of her free throws.

The Stingers were led by Coralie Dumont and Caroline Task, who had 13 and 10 points, respectively. Task was shaken up early in the second half but returned before the third quarter was over. She went up for a rebound on a missed lay-up by Geraldine Cabillo-Abante (also known as "GG") and was sandwiched between Kiss-Rusk and Cabillo-Abante. Task appeared groggy and needed assistance to walk off the court.

It was the second somewhat lengthy delay in the contest caused by Concordia players. Early in the first quarter, with McGill ahead 12-7, there was some confusion at the bench with a handful of players subbing in and returning back to the Stingers bench. It turned out that the officials had instructed Concordia's Ashley Moss and Aurelie d'Anjou-Drouin that they both had to remove their long-sleeved undershirts, which are against FIBA rules.

Concordia led 36-30 in rebounds and 4-1 in blocks. The Martlets had a 9-7 edge in steals and forced 20 turnovers while committing just 14.

"GG" started us in that direction (of forcing turnovers) by making it tough for them to get the ball to Task, which made other people have to take shots," explained Thorne, who improved his record to 247-188 in 435 games overall behind the McGill bench.  "Task's a great player on Concordia and they're looking for her, so those other players aren't really trying to take those shots -- they're trying to still find Task, so then they're going to force passes and that gave us some tips. 'GG' started it and that's what we expect from her, but Kiana came in and took it to another level and that was what resulted in those 20 turnovers."

McGill shot 39.1 per cent from the field (27/69), including 21.4 from the three-point range (4/13), and was 6-for-10 on free throws.

"A lot of the shots we're getting aren't just the standard catch-extra pass-shoot," noted Thorne of the uncharacteristically low three-point shooting in recent games. "It's a lot of coming off of action and getting shots. I don't think we're doing a good enough job in practice preparing for those shots, so we've got to adjust there."

The Stingers shot 33.9 per cent from the field (21/62), including 23.5 from beyond the arc (4/17), and were 5-for-9 from the charity stripe.

Concordia (3-3) hosts Bishop's (2-4) on Jan. 18. The Martlets (7-1) have two weeks off before returning to the court for a home-and-home against the Gaiters. They travel to Lennoxville on Friday, Jan. 26, then play at McGill on Jan. 27 with a 4 pm tip-off.

GAME NOTES:

 

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

Pos	TEAM	GP	W	L	PF	PA	PCT	GBL.	PTS
1	McGill	8	7	1	543	441	0.875	0.0	14
2	Concordia	6	3	3	382	401	0.500	3.0	6
3	Laval	5	3	2	298	277	0.600	2.5	6
4	Bishop's	6	2	4	357	404	0.333	4.0	4
5	UQAM	7	1	6	392	449	0.143	5.5	2