MONTREAL – Lily Rose Chatila of Quebec City scored a career-high 29 points as McGill rallied from a seven-point deficit to conquer Concordia 69-62 in women's basketball, Thursday, at Love Competition Hall.
 
It was the highest single-game total by a McGill player in in 15 years, since Anneth Him-Lazarenko tallied 32 against UQAM on Feb. 27, 2010.

The result was the sixth consecutive league victory for the Martlets, their longest streak since winning seven straight in 2017-18. More importantly, the Martlets improved to 7-2 and sit in sole possession of first-place in the five team RSEQ conference. The fourth-place Stingers dropped to 2-6.
 
In a game that featured 51 turnovers and 15 lead changes, Concordia took a 17-15 advantage after the opening quarter. They stretched that to a perilous-looking 24-17 lead just two minutes and 20 seconds into the second stanza. The Martlets bounced back to hold a 36-33 edge at halftime but Concordia clawed their way back to go ahead 49-46 after three. The home side then turned up the heat and convincingly claimed the final quarter 23-13.
 
The offensive outburst by Chatila was the highest single-game points tally by a member of the Martlets in almost nine years, dating back to a 29-point effort by Alex Kiss-Rusk in a pre-season game against Guelph on Oct. 1, 2016. In regular season play, the last time that a McGill player scored at least 29 was 11 years ago, when Mariam Sylla had 29 in a 71-62 home-court win against Laval on Jan. 12, 2013.

Chatila, a fleet-footed, 5-foot-7 guard, reached the 20-point plateau for the fourth time this season and surpassed her previous career-high of 21 achieved on two previous occasions. The 20-year-old anatomy and cellular biology sophomore shot 9-for-12 from the field, including a 4-for-5 effort from three-point range. In an all-round performance, she posted a near-perfect 7-for-8 effort from the free-throw line and added a pair of rebounds, two steals and two assists.
 
"I was telling my coaches that I think it was one of the best games I've ever seen from a Martlets guard over the last 20 years," said fifth-year McGill bench boss Rikki Bowles, who was a shooting guard for the Martlets from 2005 to 2010 and served as an assistant coach with the program from 2011 to 2017 and returned to the McGill coaching staff in 2019. "Her poise, understanding of the game, being aware of who was guarding her, taking advantages when they were there. And towards the end, she was making little dump-offs to the 'bigs' in front of the basket for an easy two points. She was outstanding tonight.
 
"Last year she had some good games and we saw her potential. But sometimes in your first-year, you've got to find your role, your rhythm. When you come out of CEGEP and go up against athletes in their fourth or fifth year, you don't know them. Its takes a while to get an understanding of your opponents and what they do well. She's using her speed now and in a straight run, I don't know that there's many people that can keep up with her."
 
Other leading scorers, with 12 points apiece for the Martlets, were Daniella Mbengo, a third-year starting guard, and Emilia Diaz-Ruiz, a six-foot freshman forward who came off the bench, shot 4-for-7 and went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.
 
"Emilia did some really good things today," Bowles noted. "She was active defensively and had five steals. Initially on our ball screen, she was on the rotation. We had some good contributions off the bench. I sort of talk about our post players as a committee and when 'Stoops' (Katerina Stoupas) and Erica Simeone were in there, they really gave us a lift. They were cleaning up the glass, helping on drives, hands up, not bailing with fouls, making them take tough shots. And hopefully when the others are tired, you've got two more coming in. So on any given day, anyone can give us 10 or 12 off the bench."
 
Pacing the Stingers was Serena Tchida, who registered a double-double in a losing cause.  She had 21 points and 10 rebounds.
 
McGill shot a season-high 47.1 per cent from the field (24/51), draining six of 15 from downtown. They also shot a solid 15 of 19 from the free-throw line. Concordia countered with a 42.3 per cent success rate from the floor. They shot 4-for-12 from distance and 14-for-21 from the stripe.
 
McGill, which is now 3-0 against the Stingers this season, improved to 91-94 lifetime in the head-to-head series since the Concordia program was founded in 1974-75. The cross-town rivals will meet for the final time in regular season play on Saturday (Jan. 18) in a 2 p.m. tip-off at the Loyola campus.
 
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SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
McGill Athletics and Recreation
(514) 983- 7012
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
www.mcgillathletics.ca