MONTREAL – Rookie Lily Rose Chatila scored a lucky 13 points and knocked down a pair of key free-throws with 8.6 seconds left as McGill rallied from a 12-point deficit for a 57-53 victory over Bishop's in the Martlets basketball official home opener at Love Competition Hall, Thursday.
 
The Gaiters, who posted a 14-2 first-place finish last year, are now 0-2 to start the season. The Martlets, meanwhile, are now 2-0 to start the campaign for the first time since 2015-16, when they finished atop the RSEQ conference standings with a 15-1 record. One of the prominent players on that stellar McGill squad was Dianna Ros, now in her second season as head coach of the Gaiters. And this was her first loss to her alma mater after winning all four meetings last season.
 
BU held a 15-9 advantage after the first quarter and extended that lead to 26-14 with just over four minutes remaining before the intermission. But McGill narrowed the gap to 31-27 by halftime and moved into a higher gear, winning the third quarter 16-10 and the final stanza 14-12.

"What we've seen from our season thus far is that we don't give up," said Rikki Bowles, in her third year as head coach at McGill. "We didn't put our heads down today (when things were not going well). There was no bickering or in-fighting. We just kept working and eventually, shots started to drop. Our offence moved a little better and found some good openings. And defensively, in our end, (our girls) started to understand what they wanted to do with the personnel (on the court). In the second half, we limited their post players... It was a good, kind of gutsy, gritty effort. It wasn't always pretty but we battled and got the win."
 
Chatila, a 5-foot-7 guard from Quebec City, shot 4-for-12 from the field and 2-for-5 from downtown. The 20-year-old anatomy and cellular biology freshman from Dawson College was 3-for-4 from the charity stripe and added five rebounds and one assist.
 
The Martlets presented a balanced attack, with a supporting cast sparked by Emma-Jane Scotten (12 points) of Ottawa and two players with more rebounds than points.

Two Montrealers came up with solid performances. Seyna Diggs, a freshman, tallied nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Katerina Stoupas added seven and 10, respectively. Stoupas, a first-year transfer from Bishop's, is in a master's program for teaching and learning.
 
It marked the first time that McGill had two players pull down 10 or more boards in a game since a 60-57 win over Concordia on Feb. 15, 2020, when Sirah Diarra (11) and Nadege Pluvoise (10) teamed up to accomplish that feat.

Teammate Daniella Mbengo, also a local product, contributed seven points, a pair of rebounds, a game-high six assists and one steal.
 
Three members of the Gaiters reached double-digit scoring, led by Victoria Gauna, who had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds in a losing cause. Other leading Bishop's scorers were Kalina Alexander-Renaud (11) and Marianne Boithias (10).
 
The Martlets had the edge in rebounds (42-36) and steals (8-4). They shot 30.8 per cent from the field (20/65), made six of 20 from three-point range and drained 11 of 20 free-throws. Bishop's shot 30.6 per cent from the floor (19/62), connected on six of 26 from the arc and went 9-for-11 from the line.
 
McGill will try to match a 3-0 start from 2015 when playing at Concordia (1-1) on Saturday (Nov. 11) at 2 p.m.  Bishop's will look for its first win on Nov. 16 when hosting Laval (1-0).

"The preseason results were a big confidence boost for us," added Bowles, whose troops are now 6-2 overall. "We started by playing three Ontario teams at the tournament in Sudbury and all were close and we pulled out a win in each game. Winning in close games is important. Then we went into UQAM last week and followed the game plan for another win, so I hope that we now believe that we have a chance to win in every game."

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RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS

SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (cell)