It was, unfortunately, a fitting end to the women’s basketball Stingers season on Saturday night in a 63-56 loss to the UQAM Citadins at Concordia gym in their regular season finale.
The Stingers lost to the Laval Rouge et Or on Friday and finished the season 1-15 and failed to qualify for the playoffs. It was also senior day, and the last games for the Stingers graduating class.
The game started out well for the Stingers holding 6-0 and 12-7 leads in the first half, but that would be their last lead of the game. The Citadins went on a 23-6 run to close out the half leading 30-19.
The Stingers closed the gap in the second half, but could only get within five when Stephanie Ramonas made the score 53-48 with five minutes to go. Ramonas finished the game with 10 points. Fanie Ruel, who was playing her final game, led Concordia’s effott. She had 14 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Emilie Ruel, also playing her final game had nine points and seven rebounds and Melanie Larocque had 12 points. UQAM’s Mireille Karangwa had 17 points and Sophie Lacroix had 16 points to lead the Citadins.
On Friday in Laval, the Stingers lost 64-56 in a game much closer than the score indicated, when free-throws extended the lead late in the game.
Patricia Mandeville had 14 points to lead the Rouge et Or. Emilie Ruel led Concordia’s effort. She had 20 points and 11 rebounds. Ramonas finished the game with 11 points and Melanie Larocque had nine points.
The Ruel’s left the court to a standing ovation from the crowd at Concordia Gym when they were taken out of the game.
“Today was like the whole season,” said Stingers head coach Keith Pruden.
“We made mistakes in several key areas. We stayed with them for most of the game, but we kept turning the ball over,” he continued.
“We improved a lot in the past six weeks, but we didn’t improve enough and the Quebec conference is not very forgiving,” Pruden said.
