The Concordia Stingers blew a late two-point lead and lost to the top-ranked McGill Martlets at home, in overtime by a score of 72-60.
The Martlets pounced on the home team, establishing an early 8-3 lead. However, the Stingers would answer with a 7-2 run that tied things at 10 apiece. The score remained close for several minutes as the two teams played each other rather evenly, until McGill began to slowly pull away. The Martlets ended first quarter up 17-12.
Stingers guard Andréanne Grégoire-Boudreau opened up the second with a three-pointer only to have McGill’s Marie-Ève Martin reply with a three of her own, which in turn sparked a 10-0 McGill run that allowed them to open the game up and create a considerable 27-15 advantage over the Stingers. Concordia would respond as their aggressive play towards the end of the quarter cut the lead to 33-24 heading into the half.
The third quarter proved to be a decisive one for the home team. Led by the particularly strong play of Kendra Carrie, the Stingers reasserted themselves in the game. Carrie’s ability to shoot from the outside and break McGill defenders down off the dribble proved to be vital to the Stingers’ early second-half surge. The Stingers were playing with a greater level of intensity than in the first half and led by Carrie, were much more offensively assertive. The Stingers outscored the Martlets 19-12 in the third and were only trailing 45-43 heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was simply an extension of the third for the Stingers. They continued to fight hard on defence, actively moving their feet and pressuring the McGill ball handlers.
On offence, they continued to move well without the ball and took better care of it. They used the small size of their court to their advantage, breaking out into transition whenever possible. However, McGill wouldn’t go away so easily, using their superior interior length to aggressively rebound on the offensive glass, thus creating second and third scoring opportunities.
All of this made for an extremely contested affair. However, Concordia was able to pull ahead and establish a thin 60-58 lead with 18 seconds left to play. Unfortunately for them, a late layup by McGill’s Francoise Charest assured that the Martlets would not be upset, at least not in regulation. The layup tied the game at 60 apiece, forcing overtime.
In the extra period, Concordia simply fell flat on their face. A combination of fatigue and questionable decision-making did them in. They did not score a single point in the overtime period while McGill scored 12 points. As a result, the game’s final score was 72-60.
“We had nothing left,” said head coach Keith Pruden. He described blowing a late lead and being forced to play overtime as “incredibly emotionally draining.” He hopes the team can rebound from this experience.
The Stingers will be back in action Thursday night at Bishop’s. The game will take place at Mitchell Gym, and gets underway at 6 p.m.
