MONTREAL -- Montrealers Sirah Diarra and Nadege Pluviose each registered 16 points, as McGill University rallied from a 12-point deficit to defeat Concordia 66-58 in RSEQ women's basketball at the John Dore Court, Thursday.
 
The Martlets, who are now on a two-game win streak, improved to 4-7 on the season, with just five games remaining on their schedule. It also moved McGill ahead of Concordia (3-5) -- which dropped to last place -- and into a tie with UQAM (4-6) for third place in the RSEQ conference
 
Concordia led 16-13 after the opening quarter 34-29 and stretched their lead to a dozen points midway through the second before McGill got into gear and reduced the gap to 34-29 heading into half-time. But the Martlets came out strong after the intermission, outscoring the Stingers 24-13 in the third quarter, and registering a 13-11 advantage in the final stanza.
 
McGill, which had a slight 31-30 edge under the glass boards, drained an impressive 14 of 16 attempts at the charity stripe, but  the Stingers countered with 13 of 17 from the line.

"The girls battled hard," said McGill bench boss Ryan Thorne. "We made some early mistakes on our assignments, but we did a better job in the second half. We stuck to our game-plan, we talked about being deliberate with the basketball and our communication, I think that's why we were better in the second half."
 
Diarra, a second-year transfer from Clemson, added a game-high nne rebounds, along with three steals, a pair of assists and one blocked shot in 28 minutes on the court. She shot an impressive 7-for-11 from the floor and went 2-for-2 from the line.
 
"Sirah was Sirah, and that's the way we expect her to play, getting rebounds and points, those are the things we need from her," noted Thorne.
 
Pluviose, a 5-foot-10 forward, scored a career-high in points, to go along with four rebounds, one assist, and a steal. She shot 6-for-13 from the floor, including 1-for-3 from the beyond the arc, and was 3-for-4 on freebies.
 
"Nadege played well, we are starting to learn how to use her better, this is her first year with the program," said Thorne of the NCAA transfer from Robert Morris University. "She was used to a very different way of play at her old school and is now getting more comfortable shooting from the three and playing both inside and out."
 
Another key contributor for McGill was sophomore guard Trishia Villedrouin, a Montrealer who came off the bench to score 11 points and pull down five rebounds.

"She was amazing and probably what sparked it for the team," noted Thorne. "She defended well, pushed the ball and scored. Trish was the total difference in our game today."
 
The Stingers were led by Nelly Owusu with a game-high of 17 points, and Myriam Leclerc , who had a dozen..
 
McGill connected on 44.4 per cent of their attempts from the field (24/54), went 4-for-16 from the three-point arc. Concordia, who shot a 32.8 per cent (20/61), drained five of 18 treys.
 
The Sherbrooke street rivals have a night of rest before they meet again at Love Competition Hall. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m., and in a rare occurence, follows the men's game.

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