MONTREAL Sydney Foran came off the bench to score a career-high nine points and Emma-Jane Scotten nailed a pair of free-throws for the winning basket with 1:49 remaining as McGill upset division-leading Laval 55-54 in women's basketball at Love Competition Hall, Thursday.

It marked a second consecutive victory for the Martlets, who improved to 2-7, while Laval dropped to 7-3.

McGill was dressed in pink uniforms to enhance awareness of the 16th annual "Shoot for the Cure Game", a national  fundraising effort in support of the Canadian Cancer Society and other related local and provincial charities. The U SPORTS campaign, which includes the participation of all 48 women's university programs across the country,  kicked off on Jan. 18 and runs through Jan. 29 with the goal of raising $100,000. Since the fall of 2007, 'Shoot for the Cure' has raised over $1.75 million in donations.

McGill led 17-15 after the first quarter and took a 36-25 lead into halftime. Laval rallied after the intermission, winning the third stanza 13-10 and the final quarter 16-9.
 
Foran, a management sophomore from Stillwater Lake, N.S., made the most of her 12 minutes of court time. The 5-foot-9 guard scored all of her nine points on treys, shooting 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. She struck pay-dirt with 3:40 left in the opening quarter to put McGill ahead 13-10, then hit back-to-back triples midway through the third to give her troops a 42-32 edge.
 
Laval, which trailed by as much as 14 points just before halftime, rallied to narrow the deficit to 53-51 with 3:13 remaining in the game.

Scotten, an education junior from Ottawa, drained a pair of freebies to finish with eight points and give McGill some breathing room at 55-51 with just 109 seconds left on the clock.

Laval responded with a free-throw from Sabrine Khelifi, followed by a layup from Elodie Lajoie with 11 seconds left. The Rouge et Or had a chance to win it at the buzzer but Khelifi's trey attempt from near mid-court went awry.
 
Other leading scorers for McGill included Joy Taan-Tobias (7), Charlotte Guerin (6) and Katie Rathwell (6).
 
Pacing Laval was Audrey Beland (16), Lea-Sophie Verret (11) and Elodie Lajoie (11).
 
McGill, which had a 36-29 edge in rebounds, committed 18 turnovers compared to Laval's eight.
 
The tale of the tape, however, was in shooting efficiency. The Martlets were successful on 37.9 per cent of their field-goals (22/58), including a 5-for-19 performance from downtown. Laval shot at a 34.3 per cent clip (23/67) and went a dismal 3-for-26 from the arc. They also shot a feeble 5-for-15 from the free-throw line, compared to McGill, which shot a clutch 6-for-8.

With the victory, McGill moved into the RSEQ conference's final playoff berth, two points ahead of fifth-place Concordia (1-8). Both teams have six games remaining, including the last three against each other.
 
Before then, the Martlets have a return engagement with Laval, in Quebec City on Saturday (Jan. 21) , followed by a home-and-home with Bishop's (Feb. 2 and Feb. 3).

BOXSCORE

RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS


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