Stinger women beat up Martlets

The Concordia Stingers’ women’s basketball team went into Sunday’s game against the McGill Martlets at the Concordia Gym, looking for their second win of the season. And boy, did they get it.
By a score of 87-57, the home team showed McGill just who’s boss.
Concordia got off to a strong start from the opening tip-off, getting their offensive game in check.
The Martlets’ Maude Valli?rZs and Kelly-Rae Kenyon were fast on their feet, but they could not elude a strong Concordia defence.
Third-year centre Kristina Steinfort was one of the Stingers’ best players in the first half, making some key baskets and helping the Concordia squad come out with a 16 point lead at the half.
With one second left on the clock going into halftime, Stinger guard Sonia Martini took a gamble at a three pointer, and as the buzzer sounded all that could be heard was the swoosh of the net.
The crowd erupted in response, ecstatic with the home team’s 42-26 lead.
After a rather sloppy first half, McGill stepped it up a notch in the second, but just couldn’t catch up to Concordia.
Martlet guard Gisela Schultz stumbled on a failed give-and-go attempt and Concordia capitalized when Tanya Monuma scooped it up, ran the length of the court, and nailed a basket.
The pace of the game quickened midway through the second half, with McGill trying to confuse their opponents with fancy footwork, but to no avail.
McGill, who were losing by a considerable margin, played to the breaking point in the final minutes.
Frustration got the best of them, and Concordia’s Martini suffered with an elbow to the face.
She played the rest of the game, but was nursing her nose with ice after the final buzzer sounded.
“McGill has a tendency to play a very fast game,” Concordia coach Keith Pruden said of the final 10 minutes. “They started to get frustrated towards the end and the elbows began to fly.”
With the defence providing a stellar backdrop to their offence, the Stingers did not back down even with a 28 point lead. Captain Jennifer Neill capitalized on a turnover from McGill, one of 23, and ran the full length of the hardwood, dodging three Martlets, and making a beautiful 2-point lay-up shot.
Almost every aspect of the team proved to be strong, making 71 per cent of their free throws and half of their field goals and three pointers.
“All we had to do was stay focused,” Stinger Rosie Douglas, who lead the team in free throw points with 5, explained.
“The problem in the past was not the other team beating us, it was us beating ourselves,” she added.
For the second time this season, the Stingers beat the Martlets -the girls from the other side of town- improving their record to 2-4.
“I’m happy with the way we played today,” Pruden said.
“McGill’s good at running the ball and we took that away from them. We’ve got to bring what we did today to our next game,” he added.
Concordia faces off against nationally ranked 2nd place Laval on Friday night.