The Stingers men’s and women’s basketball teams handled business over the weekend, and have yet to drop a game since the return to play.
Women’s Basketball: Concordia 68-65 Laval
Coming off a 66-60 victory over Laval on Thursday, the Stingers were looking to sweep the Rouge et Or in the week in their Saturday afternoon rematch. Despite a late rally by Laval in the fourth quarter, Concordia was able to secure the win, tying for the top seed in the RSEQ regular season standings in the process. Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens described Concordia’s back-to-back wins over Laval as important character builders.
“We’re digging deep and making the extra plays,” Gittens said. “Basketball is not a perfect game, we strive to execute perfectly on both ends of the floor but it’s extremely rare to see a team play a flawless game. The whole point is to make sure that you’re the team that does a little bit more.”
The Stingers defence held Laval to six points in the opening quarter, but went into the halftime up only two points because of poor shooting woes and Laval opting to increase the pace of the game and push the ball in transition off Concordia’s misses.
“In the second quarter, I thought we were bailing Laval out and putting them at the free-throw line too often. So the message at the half was about making sure we stayed disciplined and limiting their transition chances,” Gittens said.
In the second half, Myriam Leclerc put on a show on offence as the primary ball-handler without Areej Burgonio in the lineup. The third-year Stingers guard tallied 29 points, and shot a perfect 15-15 from the free-throw line in a closely contested game. Leclerc proved she can handle the pressure, collecting eight rebounds and a pair of steals and assists to cap off her dominant showing.
Last week, Gittens outlined some expectations ahead of the second half of the regular season. Concordia’s head coach was adamant in predicting that Leclerc would step up in a big way for the team as she gradually worked her way back into playing shape following an injury to her knee.
Over the last two games, the Stingers’ third-year guard is averaging 24.5 total points on 16 shot attempts per game, quickly cementing herself as an opposing defence’s nightmare.
“I feel like I’m at 100 per cent,” Leclerc said. “Having the trust of my coaches and teammates helped a lot during my rehab. Right now, I’m confident that I’m back.”
Men’s Basketball: Concordia 75-69 Laval
In their second meeting of the week, Concordia erased a first half deficit to defeat Laval at home. The Stingers bench provided a game-altering spark in the third quarter, which carried into the fourth quarter where Concordia held Laval scoreless through five minutes.
Though the Rouge et Or made a valiant attempt at a comeback by scoring at will in the dying minutes of the game, Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic was pleased with the resilience the Stingers showed after slow starts in both their matchups versus Laval.
“We played a bit timid down the stretch hoping for the time to expire and we simply can’t do that,” Popovic said. “But overall our players did a great job of adjusting and following the game plan in the second half.”
For the second game in a row, Marc-André Fortin led the way for Laval on offence, finishing the game with 23 points on 11 made field goals. Though the Rouge et Or centre caused problems for the Stingers, Concordia’s defence was able to contain Laval on the boards, and forced their opponents to commit 20 turnovers.
On Thursday, the Stingers were led by Concordia’s veteran starters Olivier Simon (22 total points, eight rebounds) and Sami Jahan (15 total points, five assists). The script was flipped on Saturday, where the team’s production came largely from their second unit in the second half.
Stingers rookie guard Alec Phaneuf orchestrated the team’s efficient offence and registered nine points and eight assists without committing a single turnover. Additionally, forwards Félix-Antoine Guertin and Aleksa Popadic connected on three and four three-pointers respectively that deflated Laval’s defence.
Once Popovic found a lineup that was proving to be successful both offensively and defensively, he kept them on the floor instead of substituting the starters back in the game without a second thought. This coaching concept is only possible with a deep team, one which has a variety of weapons at its disposal. Phaneuf went scoreless in six minutes played on Thursday, but knew he needed to stay ready for when his number got called.
“Every game this year is going to be different because we have a lot of depth,” said Phaneuf. “At the end of the day, everyone knows what’s important is the win, so whoever is feeling it is going to get more time on the floor.”
This Thursday, the Stingers basketball teams will host Bishop’s at Concordia Stadium. In-person attendance is prohibited, but watch the Concordia Stingers live or on-demand here.
Photos by Kyran Thicke
