For the first 35 minutes of action at Love Competition Hall on Saturday night, the McGill women's basketball team held their own against the visiting Concordia Stingers. In a game that featured eight ties and six lead changes, the finishing touches belonged to the more experienced visiting squad. The Martlets allowed Concordia to outscore them 16-7 over a five-minute span, and dropped to 0-3 in league action with a 66-57 loss.
"We need to start playing [the full] forty minutes," said McGill Head Coach Ryan Thorne.
Playing in front of a sizable home crowd, the Martlets got off to a good start, taking a 29-26 lead at halftime. Both teams employed a similar game plan, running whenever possible and utilizing a full-court press to force a combined 20 turnovers. The Martlets began the second half with plenty of energy, pushing the lead to 39-33 after consecutive jumpers by freshman forward Helene Bibeau. However, the lead was the largest McGill would enjoy all game.
The Martlets entered the fourth quarter up by four points but quickly let the lead slip away. McGill was unable to come up with any key defensive stops in the fourth quarter and quickly descended into foul trouble. The home team's lack of defensive focus resulted in the Stingers shooting 14 free throws in the final quarter, running their total up to an astounding 41 foul shots for the game.
"We've just got to play better [man-to-man] defence," said Thorne. "We foul too much, we use our hands too much, [and] we step in and reach too much instead of just playing position [defence] and moving our feet."
Concordia put the nail in McGill's coffin with 1:23 left in the game, and the Martlets trailing 57-54. After stopping McGill on defence, Concordia forward Yasmine Jean-Philippe calmly hit a three to double the Stingers' lead. McGill freshman guard Francoise Charest failed to convert on two consecutive layups, ending any hope of a comeback.
Martlet veterans Anneth Him-Lazarenko, Rikki Bowles and Elise Lepine missed the game with injuries, forcing Thorne to start four freshmen and bring another four rookies off the bench. First-year guard Marie-Eve Martin commented on the difficulty of adjusting to a new system and new players.
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