LENNOXVILLE, Que. --
Edith Noblecilla tallied 15 points and
Marie-Evrardine Berrouette recorded a "double-double" as Bishop's upset No.1-ranked McGill 52-40 in an RSEQ women's basketball stunner, Friday, at the Mitchell Gym.
The 40 points scored by the Martlets marked their lowest offensive output in 22 league games, since a 70-40 loss at Laval on Jan. 6, 2017.
The Gaiters jumped to a 12-9 lead after the first quarter, improved to 26-21 at halftime, and were up 42-28 after three. Bishop's led by 15 points in the final stanza but McGill roared back and narrowed the gap to 45-40 with 4:24 remaining before running out of gas.
"We didn't make shots and were flat. They were aggressive, physical and we were passive," said McGill head coach
Ryan Thorne, who was returning to the scene of the crime, where he led Bishop's to a men's national championship as a player in 1998. "It was not a good performance. They wanted to beat us more than we wanted to win and that's a bad combination... We got close, to within five with a few minutes to go but the energy we spent there left us spent and fatigued in the end."
In a feisty battle of opposing 6-foot-4 centres, Gaiter's fifth-year captain
Mara Marchizotti held McGill all-star
Alex Kiss-Rusk to just four points and 11 rebounds, while collecting nine points of her own, plus 11 rebounds and four blocks. Kiss-Rusk shot just 2-for-14 and stole three balls. Her four-point performance marked the first time this season that she was held to less than 10 and was her lowest scoring total since a four-point effort in the aforementioned loss at Laval.
Noblecilla shot 4-for-13 from the field and drained seven of eight free throws. She also pulled down eight rebounds and had four assists and two steals. Berrouette scored 10 points and nabbed a dozen rebounds, including 10 in the defensive zone.
McGill was led by guards
Gladys Hakizimana and
Frederique Potvin, who netted 12 points each. Hakizimana, a junior from Montreal, shot 3-for-12 from the field, including 2-for-8 from beyond the three-point arc, and 4-for-4 from the line. She also corralled three rebounds and had two steals. Potvin, a senior from Ste. Julie, Que., shot 4-for-14 from the field, including 1-for-4 from downtown, and sank three of four free throws. She grabbed one rebound, stole one ball and had an assist.
Teammate
Marie-Love Michel of Montreal, tallied eight points, 11 rebounds and one assist.
Bishop's had a 48-41 rebounding advantage, a 6-0 margin in blocks, a 12-10 difference in steals and a favourable 20-19 edge in turnovers.
The Martlets shot just 23.3 per cent from the field (14/60), including a less than stellar 3-for-15 effort from three-point range, and were 9-for-11 on free-throws (81.8 per cent). The Gaiters shot 32.8 per cent from the field (19/58) despite just a 7.7 per cent success rate from beyond the arc (1/13) and were 13-for-21 from the charity stripe (61.9 per cent).
It will be a quick turnaround for both teams. McGill (7-2) will aim for revenge on Saturday (Jan. 27) at 4 p.m. when Bishop's (5-5) visits Love Competition Hall for the second game of the home-and-home.
"If the girls really care, we'll be angry and come out with some fire and fight," added Thorne. "If we don't, then that says a lot more about us than anything else."
GAME NOTE: Friday's game marked the second annual #BellLetsTalk game at Bishop's as they support the nation-wide initiative to promote ending the stigma around mental health.
| 2017-18 RSEQ Women's Basketball Standings • Classement de la saison régulière de basketball feminin |
|
|
| 1 |
McGill |
9 |
7 |
2 |
583 |
493 |
0.778 |
0.0 |
14 |
| 2 |
Laval |
8 |
6 |
2 |
491 |
454 |
0.750 |
0.5 |
12 |
| 3 |
Bishop's |
10 |
5 |
5 |
638 |
653 |
0.500 |
2.5 |
10 |
| 4 |
Concordia |
9 |
3 |
6 |
576 |
623 |
0.333 |
4.0 |
6 |
| 5 |
UQAM |
10 |
2 |
8 |
584 |
649 |
0.200 |
5.5 |
4 |
