The women’s basketball team fell to the Citadins while the men were victorious
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams kicked off their season on Nov. 7 against the Université du Québec à Montréal Citadins on their home courts.
After impressive pre-seasons by both teams, the women’s team lost to the Citadins by a 64-49 score while the men came away with a 69-56 win.
On the women’s side, the game started with a quick 11-3 run by the Citadins. The Citadins early success in the match was led by guard Quételine Célestin who scored six straight points including a three-pointer. In the last few minutes of the first quarter, the Stingers were able to cut the UQÀM lead to five after rookie point guard Jessika Joly hit a three-pointer. After the first quarter the score was 20-10 for the Citadins.
“We were playing selfish by doing one-on-one,” Stingers forward Richelle Gregoire said. “We are supposed to be playing with five girls on the court.”
In the second quarter, the Stingers were able to cut the Citadins lead to five points after point guard Tamara Pinard-Devos scored a basket. Célestin of the Citadins would then come up big and stop the Stingers momentum with back-to-back three pointers. By half-time, the score was 38-23 for the Citadins.
For the first six minutes of the third quarter, the Stingers were struggling with their shooting game and couldn’t get any shots to go in. The Stingers first basket was then scored by shooting guard Aurelie d’Anjou Drouin. The Stingers had a tough quarter and found themselves down by 18 going into the final quarter.
In the final quarter, Joly hit another three-pointer which was able to start a 10-0 run for the Stingers. The run proved to be too little too late though as the Citadins ran away with the 64-49 win.
Citadins centre Jessica Lubin had a double-double in her team’s victory with 10 defensive rebounds and 10 points.
“I was trying to do my best at keeping the players in front of me so that I could work on my feet,” Lubin said. “I did a pretty good job at that.”
On the men’s side, the team fared better in their opening quarter against the Citadins thanks to some accurate shooting and a three-pointer by Stingers guard Jaleel Webb. The Stingers were able to finish up the first quarter with a 20-13 lead.
Midway through the second quarter, the Stingers were up by 12, but with two minutes left in the quarter, the Citadins came storming back and cut the Stingers lead to one at a score of 31-30. The run was started by UQÀM guard Greishe Clerjuste who hit some clutch free throws. The Stingers then hit a few more baskets to escape with a 37-32 lead at half-time.
“I thought we played pretty well defensively especially in the second half where we held them to only 24 points in the half,” said Stingers coach Rastko Popovic.
In the last two minutes of the third quarter, the Stingers extended their lead to 10 points as point guard Ricardo Monge hit back-to-back free throws. His teammate, forward Michael Fosu, then drained another pair of free throws to give the team a 54-41 lead going into the final quarter.
The Citadins did not give in easily as the team scored six straight points to start the fourth quarter, which cut the Stingers lead to seven points. Stingers guard Ken Beaulieu then sealed the win with a three-pointer.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will be in Quebec City on Nov. 13 to take on the Laval Rouge et Or where the women will get the chance to earn their first win of the season.
