Stingers solid on defence in win against Laval

In search of their second win of the regular season on Friday night, the Stingers played a solid defensive game in the second half to beat the Laval Rouge et Or 49-39 at home.

Laval won the tipoff but was called back because the ball went out of bounds. Concordia won the next tip-off and drew first blood with a two pointer by point guard Ashley Clarke, followed by a basket by guard Kaylah Barrett.

The Stingers and Rouge et Or traded baskets at the four minute mark of the fourth quarter. A couple of foul shots also helped the Stingers extend their lead before the end of the quarter. The score after one quarter had the Stingers up by seven.

The Stingers started with the ball in the second quarter and struck first with a two pointer by Clarke, where she was wide open in Laval’s court. Under a minute later, Clarke stole the ball and passed to forward Tamara Pinard-Devos, who scored the basket to give the Stingers an 18-7 lead.

After centre Tina Mpondani made it 21-10 for the Stingers on two free throw attempts, the Rouge et Or, who had six unanswered baskets to go into the halftime, were only down by five points. The score at halftime was 21-16 for the Stingers.

The Stingers had many missed opportunities in the first half as they took 37 shots and only connected on seven.

Both teams combined for 31 points in the third quarter. Laval started with the ball and quickly went on a 4-0 run only a minute into the quarter.

Stingers responded to the early run by Laval with a basket by Barrett, which gave the Stingers a 23-20 lead. However, Rouge et Or tied the game up with a three pointer by centre Veronique Fortin-Tremblay. The Stingers broke the tie with a basket by Marilyse Roy-Viau.

The Stingers were able to pull away with a lead with the help of Barrett, who scored two free throws at 7:39 of the third quarter to make it 25-22 Stingers and then a three-point jump shot at the midway mark to make it 30-24. Four consecutive free throws by Roy-Viau and guard Cynthia Suissa gave the Stingers a 34-24 lead with three minutes left to play in the third quarter. But Laval responded late with two three pointers by forwards Gabrielle Girard and Raphelle Côté to cut the Stingers lead to four. The score was 36-32 for Stingers at the end of the third quarter.

The Stingers strong defensive play in the final quarter is what ultimately won them the game. Concordia stopped Laval from getting any baskets until there was 3:40 left in the game. Laval finally got their first points in the quarter at the 2:50 mark which was a three-pointer by Côté.

After Côté scored two free throws for Laval to reduce Concordia’s lead to 40-34 with 3:39 left in the game, Barrett scored the Stingers next eight points to give them a 48-39 lead. Clarke’s free throw in the dying seconds sealed the 49-39 Stingers win.

Barrett finished the game as the Stingers leading scorer with 20 points.

Next up, the Stingers will be hosting its annual Concordia Adidas Tournament which starts December 28.

With files from Samantha Mileto

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