Coming into Thursday night’s game against the Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins, the Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team were riding a six game winning streak. However, the Citadins handed the Stingers their third loss in four contests between the two teams, winning 64-54.
Both teams committed many turnovers, with the Stingers committing 20 and UQAM, 19. The Stingers had 44 rebounds in the loss, led by guard Kaylah Barrett and forward Marilyse Roy-Viau, with five each.
The Citadins opened up the scoring in the game with a two pointer by centre Camille Michaud. Concordia would respond two minutes later with a two pointer by Roy-Viau. Later in the quarter, after the Stingers were down 8-4, Barrett hit a three pointer to make it a one-point lead for the Citadins. UQAM would score five of the next seven baskets in the quarter, led by Michaud, who got two more baskets late in the quarter. Centre Jessica Lubin would put away another basket to give UQAM a five point lead,16-11, to end the first quarter.
The Citadins opened the scoring in the second quarter with a bang, a three pointer by guard Valerie Gauvin. The Stingers would get their first point of the quarter at the 6:12 mark with a free throw by Barrett. UQAM continued their dominance in this quarter as they got a couple of baskets by Michaud and guard Queteline Celestin. The Stingers first non-free-throw basket came with 38 seconds left in the quarter, which was scored by Roy-Viau. UQAM took a ten point lead, 29-19, into half-time. Stingers scored only eight points in the second quarter, six of them were from the free-throw line.
UQAM once again opened the scoring in the third quarter with a basket by Celestin. Concordia would respond with a three pointer by Barrett. Lubin had four straight baskets to help increase the Citadins lead to 39-26.
Celestin would get six straight points (four free throws plus a jump shot), which gave UQAM a 45-30 lead at 3:08 of the quarter. The Stingers would get a 6-0 scoring drive to end the quarter. However, they were still down by 14 points as the Citadins led 50-36 after the third quarter.
The Stingers would open the scoring in the fourth quarter with a two pointer by Shannah Ernest, followed by two free throws by Barrett to cut the Citadins’ lead to ten. Every time the Stingers got a basket,Lubin would get another one to increase the Citadins’ lead.
The Stingers did hit two threes by point guard Ashley Clarke and Barrett near the end of the game. Roy-Viau would get a two pointer with 27 seconds left in the game to decrease the margin of the UQAM victory to ten.
Barrett led all scorers in the game with 21 points.
“Kaylah always has a nice game offensively,” head coach Keith Pruden said of Barrett’s performance. “[But] I’m not happy with our effort, we were sloppy offensively, we turned the ball over way too much.”
Stingers also lost on Saturday night to the Laval Rouge et Or in Quebec City, which brings their record to 9-5. The Stingers next play the Bishop Gaiters in Lennoxville on Friday, Feb. 21. Their next home game will be their last of the 2013-2014 regular season, where they will be playing against their rivals, the McGill Martlets on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m..
