The women’s basketball team wasn’t able to pull off a come-from-behind win on Friday and succumbed to the McGill Martlets by a score of 61-57.
Missed shots were a problem for the Stingers, especially at the foul line. The team went 5-for-15 on free throws, 6-for-20 on three-pointers and 17-for-46 on two-point field goals.
They couldn’t seem to catch a break, some shots missing the net while others just didn’t go in.
“We were tight, then we missed some shots, and we got tighter,” explained head coach Keith Pruden.”I understand why the girls were tight. I was nervous, it’s a home game, a personal game, it’s McGill… you know, they really wanted to do well, and they screwed up. You got to deal with that, and we didn’t.”
McGill jumped to an early lead. Marie-Ève Martin hit a three-point shot, Anneth Him-Lazarenko, last season’s Martlets MVP, made a jump shot and Natalie Larocque made a three as well to make the score 8-0. But the Stingers went on a tear of their own when Anne-Marie Prophete nailed a three-pointer and a free throw, Magalie Beaulieu scored after Kaylah Barrett stole the ball off of Martin, and Barrett scored after Yasmin Jean-Philippe forced a McGill turnover. The score was tied at eight.
Stinger Kendra Carrie was productive in the last five minutes of the quarter, recording a rebound, a block, an assist and two baskets.
McGill was ahead by two at the end of the first, but Carrie tied up the score at 16 early in the second quarter. With a little under five minutes to play in the half, Barrett missed a shot down low and Prophete recuperated her rebound. Her shot also missed, but Barrett was there to get that rebound. She missed again, retrieved her own rebound and scored. Prophete added two points of her own 30 seconds later and tied the game at 26.
The Stingers trailed 33-31 heading into halftime.
Jean-Philippe powered through the key and put up two points for Concordia early in the third. McGill would score next, but a three-pointer by Jean-Philippe and a basket by Prophete evened out the game.
A three-pointer attempt by Prophete bounced off the rim, but Nekeita Lee was there to get the rebound.
Prophete was fouled by Valérie L’Ecuyer under the net and she made one of the two ensuing free throws. The Stingers scored two more points after that, on a basket by Jessica Eng. The Martlets added 12 points to their total and headed into the fourth with a 50-41 lead.
Prophete fouled out of the game early in the last quarter after four fouls were against her in a matter of 40 seconds.
Neither team put many points on the board until the Stingers’ offensive onslaught started with about three minutes left in the game.
The Stingers trailed by 13 points when Carrie scored a basket from inside the paint. Barrett stepped to the free throw line 30 seconds later and made both shots to bring the score to 59-50. Andreanne Grégoire-Boudreau made it 59-55 after she sank a three-point shot, then beat the shot clock buzzer down low beneath the McGill basket.
Martlet Roya Assadi pushed Carrie down while she was shooting, and though she missed both free throws, she came back with a basket soon after. The Stingers were down by two points with 58 seconds on the clock.
But it was Him-Lazarenko who hammered the final nail into the Stingers’ coffin, making a jump shot that put the win just out of Concordia’s reach. Including free throws, it was her 15th basket of the night.
“I’m not very happy with a lot of what I saw today, but the good part was that we didn’t stop playing,” Pruden said. “When [McGill] went on that little run [at the end of the third quarter] they could have easily opened it up to a 15- or 16-point lead and we didn’t allow that. Which was good, and it’s good that we went at them at the end, but the other thing that I just asked them was “Where was that the whole game?'”
The Laval Rouge et Or will have a chance to avenge their loss to the Stingers on Dec. 4, when they visit the Concordia Gymnasium. Game time is 8 p.m.
