MONTREAL – Mikayla McFarlane scored 15 points and Julia Chadwick added 13 as visiting Queen's defeated McGill 87-48 in women's preseason basketball on Saturday afternoon at Love Competition Hall.

The Gaels led 20-13 after the first quarter, 44-21 at halftime and 64-27 after three before McGill found some offensive jump in the final stanza, with a 23-21 edge for the visitors.
 
Rookie Iman Ibrahim, a 5-foot-2 point-guard, paced the Martlets with a game-high 19 points. The native of Montreal added three rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.
 
Another bright spot for the Red and White was Emma-Jane Scotten, a freshman from Ottawa, who finished with 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc, and collected a game-high five steals.

After falling behind early, Ibrahim led a mid-first quarter surge, taking the reins offensively for a stretch, pushing the pace and generating solid transition looks. Ibrahim finished the opening 20 minutes with a team-best 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting, including 3-for-7 from beyond the arc.
 
The home side cut Queen's lead to only six early in the second quarter, but the visitors took over at the tail end of the second and led by 23 at the half. The Gaels combination of Chadwick and Laura Donovan was dominant. They did a lot of damage in half-court sets and combined for 20 points on an efficient 8-for-13 shooting performance.
 
After the intermission, the visitors added to their lead, led by McFarlane, who tallied eight of her points over the final 20 minutes. The Gaels continued their high-pressure defence, for much of the third quarter.
 
"Queen's and Ottawa are two veteran teams, a pair of tough tests to close the preseason," said head coach Rikki Bowles. "We have a lot of athletes in their first U SPORTS experience, and we need to find the positives. I thought a couple of rookies, Sydney Foran and Kristy Awikeh, gave us a nice lift... an effort to build on moving forward."
 
Foran, who hails from Stillwater Lake, N.S., came off the bench, hit a trey and pulled down a rebound. Awikeh, a native of Syria, also subbed in for a dozen minutes and contributed her first career bucket to finish with six points, one rebound and a steal.

"We now have a week and a half to zero in on Concordia since we only have one game on opening weekend, and hopefully, that focus pays off," added Bowles,
 
Next up, the Martlets open the regular season playing host to Concordia on Thursday, November 11 at Love Competition Hall. The opening tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., followed by the men's game.

BOXSCORE


SOURCE:
Zachary McRae
Communications Officer
McGill Athletics & Recreation
514.616.5573 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
zachary.mcrae@mcgill.ca