MONTREAL --
Gladys Hakizimana scored a game-high 16 points and hit a blind buzzer-beater with 0.1 seconds remaining as McGill opened their 97th season of women's basketball with a 57-56 thriller over UQAM at Love Competition Hall. Thursday.
It was the eighth consecutive victory over UQAM for the defending conference champion Martlets, dating back to a 55-47 setback on Jan. 13, 2017. McGill, dressed in spiffy new uniforms, improved their lifetime record to 44-23 in 67 head-to-head meetings with the Citadins.
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UQAM led 13-10 after the opening quarter but the Martlets took a 24-23 lead into halftime and held a 44-40 advantage after three. The Citadins clawed back in the final stanza and finally regained the lead at 56-54 with 11 seconds remaining, when
Clara Blacher made a layup with what appeared to be the game-winning basket.
But Hakizimana, a 5-foot-7 guard, pounced on a loose ball under the UQAM basket and with her back to the net, tossed a backwards shot, over her head that hit nothing but net for the win. She was fouled on the play but missed her free-throw. The 23-year-old social work senior shot 5-for-8 from the field and drained 3-of-7 freebies. She also pulled down four rebounds, stole fours balls and had a pair of assists in 25 minutes of court time.
"There was a lot of nervous energy early, we hadn't played in two weeks and (despite practicing).... it's a little different when you come out in front of a crowd and the lights are on and you're wearing new uniforms," said
Ryan Thorne, who improved to 257-200 overall in his 16th season as head coach of the Martlets. "We made a lot of mistakes down the stretch but it came down to our 'McGill will' to win.
The game featured 49 turnovers, 25 of them by UQAM. McGill had a 39-38 rebounding advantage, and a 12-8 margin in steals. Both sides were credited with one blocked shot.
Sirah Diarra of Longueuil, Que., a first-year NCAA transfer after three seasons at Clemson University, tallied a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The social work major shot 6-for-10 from the floor and stole one ball.
Kamsi Ogbudibe, a science sophomore from Calgary, tallied nine points, seven rebounds, one assist and a steal in 19 minutes of court time.
"We can't overlook the efforts of some of our other girls in this game. Kamsi was amazing, she got us going by scoring on some put-backs and just scratched (her way into situations). We didn't run any plays with her but it was her effort that got us some opportunities and we were pretty happy with that."
Alexe Dufresne led UQAM with 14 points, followed by
Inga Aleksaite and
Veronique Boivin with 13 apiece.
McGill, which had a decided 22-6 advantage in points off the bench, shot 37.9 per cent from the field (22/58), 35.3 from three-point range (6/17) and was 7-for-16 on free-throws. The Citadins shot 33.3 from the floor (20/60) and had a 6-for-14 success rate from downtown. They were 10-for-16 from the charity stripe.
"We have a lot of room for improvement and have to look at the next game against Laval as an opportunity to be better," noted Thorne. "It's a long season and it's not about the win today but the win out in the end."
The Martlets (1-0) will travel to Quebec City on Saturday (Nov. 10) to confront No. 1 ranked Laval (1-0) at Centre PEPS in a 6 p.m. start time that will be streamed live. That same evening, UQAM (0-1) plays at Bishops (0-0).
| 2018-19 RSEQ Women's Basketball Standings • Classement de la saison régulière du basketball (f) |
|
|
| 1 |
McGill |
1 |
1 |
0 |
57 |
56 |
1.000 |
0.0 |
2 |
| 2 |
Laval |
1 |
1 |
0 |
66 |
61 |
1.000 |
0.0 |
2 |
| 3 |
Bishop's |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.000 |
0.5 |
0 |
| 4 |
UQAM |
1 |
0 |
1 |
56 |
57 |
0.000 |
1.0 |
0 |
| 5 |
Concordia |
1 |
0 |
1 |
61 |
66 |
0.000 |
1.0 |
0 |
