MONTREAL – The twin sister combo of Fredlyne Verrier and Fredlaine Verrier proved too much to handle for the McGill women's basketball team as visiting UQAM came away with a 55-48 victory to spoil the Martlets home opener party before a crowd of 334 at Love Competition Hall, Thursday.
 
Fredlyne, who eventually fouled out, scored a game-high 13 points, while Fredlaine registered a double-double with a dozen points and 10 rebounds.
 
Pacing the Martlets was Emma-Jane Scotten with 11 points, while teammate Daniella Mbengo added nine and Charlotte Guerin contributed five points with a game-high 14 rebounds.
 
The Citadins took a comfortable 17-10 lead after the opening quarter only to see McGill battle back to win the second stanza by a lopsided 15-4 margin. It was easily the best quarter in McGill's four league games to date, but UQAM out-wrestled the Martlets 12-10 in the third and to the final quarter 22-13.
 
McGill appeared to get a lifeline midway through the final quarter when senior Jessica Salanon and freshman Daniella Mbengo nailed back-to-back treys to put the Martlets ahead 44-43 with 4:47 remaining but turnovers were costly down the stretch and the Martlets finished with 26, compared to 18 by UQAM.
 
McGill shot 30.2 per cent from the field (16/53), with a 5-for-15 performance from three-point range and an 11-for-16 effort from the free-throw line. The Citadins replied with 27.9 per cent from the floor (19/68), made 5-for-25 from the arc and drained 12 of 19 from the stripe. The Citadins held a slight 37-36 edge in rebounding.
 
It was the third consecutive victory of the season for UQAM, which shares the the RSEQ conference lead with an unblemished 3-0 record, while McGill dropped to 0-4.
 
UQAM returns to the court on Nov. 19 when they host Bishop's (3-0) in a battle of undefeated teams, while McGill has a bye and will return on Nov. 26 when Laval (1-2) will be the visitors. Both contests are slated for a 2 p.m. tipoff.

MARTLETS MURMURS: The Martlets decided to switch team benches for the remainder of the season. After playing the preseason schedule from the western bench, McGill opted to take the eastern team bench, located on the left side of the gym, from the fans perspective... After an absence of a number of years, McGill basketball grad Gabriela Hebert (BA '16) has returned to provide her usual insightful analysis alongside play-by-play veteran Moe Kahn on the team's streaming broadcast of men's and women's games... Hebert, originally from Chicoutimi, played five seasons at forward for the Martlets, including a stint as co-captain.

 
BOXSCORE
 
RSEQ STANDINGS
 
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
@EarlZukerman (twitter)