Sweeping away the competition in style

File photo by Brianna Thicke.
Photo by Brianna Thicke

The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team continued its winning ways on Saturday as it swept a home-and-away series with a 68-41 win over the Bishop’s Gaiters at home.

The Stingers have gone 7-1 in the new year and have an overall record of 9-3. Coming into the game, the Stingers were ranked sixth in the Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) league.

The Stingers were able to cause some problems for the Gaiters on the defensive side of the ball as the Gaiters committed 27 turnovers, including 16 steals.

Guard Kaylah Barrett — the defending Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RESQ) MVP and two-time all-Canadian — played in limited minutes due to a back injury. She did not play on Friday at Bishop’s.

The game started off great for the Stingers as guard Alex Boudreau got a basket right off the tip-off. The Gaiters would respond within seconds as guard Marie-Michele Paquin shot a three-pointer to take the early lead for the Gaiters. But the Stingers would string together a couple of baskets, including several foul shots and a three-pointer by point guard Ashley Clarke to take a 16-11 lead in the first quarter.

The Stingers started off the second quarter with a basket by Barrett. Boudreau would continue to put points on the board as she hit four foul shots within a minute due to a technical foul given to the Gaiters head coach, Alex Perno, for arguing with the referee. Boudreau hit a three-pointer seconds after her free throws.

The Gaiters got their first points of the quarter with 4:43 left  with a free throw by guard Genevieve Onyeka. Stingers would go into halftime with a 19-point lead, up 35-16.

The Stingers did a great job shutting the Gaiters offence as they only scored five in the second quarter.

The Stingers scored the first points of the third quarter with a two-pointer by centre Serginha Estime. Concordia was putting on a clinic of field goal shots as they would hit three threes in a row by defender Marilyse Roy-Viau, forward Richelle Gregoire and Clarke.

The Gaiters only got their first basket with three minutes left in the quarter on a Charlotte Jorunn Matthiessen two-pointer. This would start a 9-0 run for the Gaiters. However, they were still down 51-27 at the end of the quarter.

The Gaiters then hit two three-pointers to open up the fourth quarter, one by Matthiessen and the other by guard Catherine Rondeau. After a couple of free throws and one basket by the Stingers, Clarke would put the dagger into the Gaiters loss as she hit a three-pointer with two minutes left in the game to make it 64-39 Concordia.

The Stingers’ player of the game was Marilyse Roy-Viau who had 14 points and 12 rebounds in the win. Head coach Keith Pruden said that Viau has really matured as a player this year. Both Clarke and Boudreau also had double digit points for the Stingers. Clarke had 13 points in the win and Boudreau had 14 points.

Despite being player of the game, Viau thought she could have been better.

“[I] was okay but I was late on my defensive rotation,” she said.

Pruden said the game was a “good offensive effort from everybody.” He added that “all the games are big now, [we’re] trying to finish in first [place].”

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