REGULAR SEASON
| McGill | 11-5 | 18-13 | Ryan Thorne | ||
| Concordia | 8-8 | 14-17 | Keith Pruden | ||
| Bishop’s | 7-9 | 15-10 | Alex Perno | ||
| UQAM | 7-9 | 7-17 | Albena Branzova-Dimitrova | ||
| Laval | 7-9 | 9-11 | Linda Marquis | ||
Playoff non-qualifier Laval Rouge et Or: Marjorie Ferland, Catherine Andrews-Cote, Elyse Jobin, Kathryn Bariault, Sarah Caron-Pare, Jannie Jacques, Sandrine Ducruc, Catherine Groleau, Melodie Laniel-Dion, Chanelle St-Amour, Rachel Blouin-Brochu, Marie-Pascale Nadeau, Eve-Sophie Lefebvre, coach Linda Marquis
In the semis, the Concordia Stingers rallied from an 18-point deficit to defeat the Bishop’s Gaiters 65-53. Bishop’s got off to a dream start, as they used three straight three-pointers at the end of the first quarter to take a 24-7 lead. The Gaiters led by as many as 18 points, as Catherine Bélanger-Pâquet made the score 26-8 with 8:41 left in the second. Then it all went horribly wrong. Concordia, led by Kaylah Barrett, started their comeback with a 6-0 run that cut the lead to 12 points, and they continued to chip away at the lead throughout the second quarter. A layup by Sergina Estimé on the stroke of halftime brought the Stingers to within four, as the Gaiters led 31-27 at the interval. Concordia continued to surge in the third quarter, and Mpondani put the Stingers up 33-31 with 8:25 left. By the end of the quarter, the Stingers led 48-40. With fifth-year guards Jessy Roy and Annick Stephanny Charles out of the game due to foul trouble, the Gaiters were unable to mount a fourth-quarter comeback. The Gaiters cut the margin to 51-44 with 6:35 left, but could draw no closer. “We started to play defensively,” explained head coach Keith Pruden. “The players started to play aggressive defence and that turned into easy offensive points. I’m really proud of how tough we played.” Pruden added that 2nd-year centre Tina Mpondani had a breakout game. “Tina was crucial to our success tonight. She had the best game of her university career. She was outstanding.” Kaylah Barrett paced the Stingers with 21 on 6-12 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 9-12 from the line, 11 boards, 2 assists and 5 steals. Tina Mpondani added 15 on 7-9 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 12 boards. Andreanne Gregoire-Boudreau scored 7 on 3-9 from the floor, 0-6 from the arc, 1-1 from the line, 9 boards and 2 steals. Ashley Clarke scored 6 on 3-12 from the floor, 0-5 from the arc, 2 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Magalie Beaulieu added 6 on 2-10 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 2-4 from the line, 2 boards, 3 assists and 4 steals. Serginha Estime notched 5 on 2-5 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 10 boards. Alex Boudreau added 3, along with 2 boards, and Natasha Raposo 2, while Anne-Marie Prophete was scoreless. The Stingers hit 25-70 (.357) from the floor, 0-21 from the arc and 15-23 (.652) from the line, while garnering 52 boards, including 22 on the offensive glass, 8 assists, 15 steals, 3 blocks, 23 turnovers and 15 fouls. Gabrielle Chamberland paced the Gaiters with 10 on 2-10 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 4-6 from the line, 2 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Veronique Fortin-Tremblay added 10 on 5-13 from the floor and 2 boards. Riley-Michelle Shkimba added 10 on 4-9 from the floor and 2-5 from the arc. Jessy Roy notched 9 on 4-5 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 6 boards and 5 assists. Catherine Belanger-Paquet added 8 on 4-9 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 8 boards and 2 assists. Eloisa Katz added 4 on 1-6 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 2 boards and 2 steals. Catherine Rondeau notched 2 on 1-6 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 4 boards and 3 assists. Danielle Lumley and Annick Stephanny-Charles were scoreless. Lumley nabbed 3 boards. The Gaiters hit 21-61 (.344) from the floor, 5-20 from the arc and 6-10 from the line, while garnering 34 boards, including 12 on the offensive glass, 15 assists, 5 steals, 24 turnovers and 22 fouls.
In the other semi, the McGill Martlets edged the U.Q.A.M. Citadins 63-56. Panama City native Anneth Him-Lazarenko and reserve veteran Natalie Larocque lived the Martlets to the win. “Larocque was probably the story (of the game) for me,” said Ryan Thorne, of the second-year transfer out of Northern Michigan University who is in her fifth year of eligibility. “She didn’t get a whole heap of points but her baskets were timely. She attacked, was aggressive and played like she didn’t want to lose what could’ve been her last game in a McGill uniform.” McGill took an early lead, held a 19-14 advantage after the opening quarter and appeared to be in total control until the second half, when UQAM came out firing and took their first lead of the game, at 39-37, with was six minutes remaining in the third quarter. The game stayed close until Marie-Eve Martin hit a trey to put the Martlets ahead 57-48 with just under three minutes remaining in the game. McGill’s depth proved the difference as their bench outscored UQAM’s 27-6. “The reality is that UQAM is a really good team,” said Thorne. “They have as good a starting five as any team in the conference but down the stretch they tire and run into foul trouble because they play with pretty much five or six players the whole game, so that is where they began to unravel. They had a great third quarter (outscoring us 16-10), where they attacked us like crazy. But we weathered the storm and responded so I was pretty happy with that.” Anneth Him-Lazarenko paced the Martlets with 13 on 5-10 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, 4 boards and 2 assists. Francoise Charest added 9 on 4-14 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 2 boards and 2 assists. Natalie Larocque added 9 on 3-7 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 6 boards and 3 assists. Marie-Eve martin added 7 on 2-9 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 7 boards. Gabriela Hebert added 7 on 3-8 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc and 4 boards. Valerie L’Ecuyer scored 6 on 2-3 from the floor, 2-4 from the line and 6 boards. Dianna Ros notched 5 on 2-9 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 2 boards and 2 assists. Roya Assadi added 3, along with 2 boards, Tiye Traore 2, along with 4 boards and Helene Bibeau 2, along with 3 boards. The Martlets hit 24-67 (.358) from the floor, 6-20 (.300) from the arc and 9-12 from the line, while garnering 40 boards, including 14 on the offensive glass, 10 assists, 6 steals, 2 blocks, 17 turnovers and 13 fouls. Emie Simard paced the Citadins with 18 on 7-13 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 4-6 from the line and 6 boards. Michelle Auger-Bellemare added 15 on 5-12 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 3-6 from the line, 5 boards and 3 assists. Valerie Gauvin notched 11 on 4-10 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 2 assists and 5 steals. Camille Michaud added 6 on 2-11 from the floor, 1-4 from the line, 4 boards and 2 blocks. Lorna Desrameaux-Simon added 6 on 3-4 from the floor and 5 boards. Catherine Bougie, Fatoumata Dia and Stephanie Michaud were scoreless. Bougie nabbed 4 boards and pilfered 2 balls. The Citadins hit 21-57 (.368) from the floor, 3-13 (.231) from the arc and 11-19 (.579) from the line, while garnering 25 boards, including 5 on the offensive glass, 6 assists, 8 steals, 2 blocks, 11 turnovers and 18 fouls.
In the final, the McGill Martlets defeated the Concordia Stingers 56-49 to win their first Quebec title since 1996. “It was a great accomplishment for this team to (finally) win the conference title,” said conference coach of the year Ryan Thorne, in his ninth season as bench boss at McGill. “This is a team that took a while to build and it also took some time to get them to believe that we could have excellence in athletics as well as in academics.” Concordia scored the opening basket but never led again after that. The Martlets took a 16-6 lead after the opening quarter, extending that to 30-16 at the half and 48-29 after three quarters. But the Stingers mounted a furious comeback, which fell seven points short, outscoring McGill 20-8. “We started out well and had a real good three quarters but we got a little tight in the fourth quarter and let the lead slip a bit,” noted Thorne. “But the girls were tough, resilient and kept working hard. The lead that we built was just so hard for Concordia to overcome but they were a tough competitor.” Anneth Him-Lazarenko noted that “we were really ready with our game plan at the start, which was to box (them) out, push the ball (up court) and don’t give the ball away, which we did a little bit. But we did an amazing job boxing-out and I think that’s what gave us a lot of transition buckets and a big lead. I didn’t have my best season offensively but it was important to step up when we had a big game and I think I was able to do that today.” Thorne said “everyone played a solid game but Frankie (Francoise Charest) was our leader out there, especially early on. She knocked down shots and got to the basket.” Anneth Him-Lazarenko paced the Martlets with 17 on 7-17 from the floor, 3-9 from the line and 12 boards. Francoise Charest scored 14 on 4-14 from the floor, 2-8 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 8 boards and 2 assists. Natalie Larocque scored 9 on 3-11 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 8 boards. Marie-Eve Martin added 6 on 2-10 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 4 boards. Tiye Traore scored 4 on 1-6 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-4 from the line and 6 boards. Dianna Ros, Shelby Eveleigh, Roya Assadi, Gabriela Hebert, Helene Bibeau and Valerie L’Ecuyer were scoreless. Hebert nabbed 10 boards, Ros 2, Assadi 2, Bibeau 2 and L’Ecuyer 2. The Martlets hit 20-68 (.294) from the floor, 4-22 (.182) from the arc and 12-21 (.571) from the line, while garnering 63 boards, including 26 on the offensive glass, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 20 turnovers and 17 fouls. Kaylah Barrett paced the Stingers with 23 on 6-18 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 10-14 from the line and 7 boards. Natasha Raposo added 13 on 5-12 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 3 boards. Andreanne Gregoire-Boudreau notched 6 on 2-3 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 1-3 from the line and 3 boards. Tina Mpondani added 4 on 2-6 from the floor and 4 boards. Magalie Beaulieu added 2 on 1-9 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc and 6 boards. Ashley Clarke added 1 on 0-3 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 6 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Anne-Marie Prophete, Alex Boudreau and Serginah Estime were scoreless. Estime nabbed 3 boards. The Stingers hit 16-61 (.262) from the floor, 4-22 (.182) from the arc and 13-21 (.619) from the line, while garnering 36 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 6 assists, 8 steals, 2 blocks, 9 turnovers and 16 fouls.
The co-bronze medalist Bishop’s Gaiters: Gabrielle Chamberland; Veronique Fortin-Tremblay; Riley-Michelle Shkimba; Jessy Roy; Catherine Belanger-Paquet; Eloisa Katz; Catherine Rondeau; Danielle Lumley; Annick Stephanny-Charles; Clare Murphy; Marie-Michele Paquin; Danna Janvier; coach Alex Perno, assistant Nathalie Boucher; assistant Christine Murphy; assistant Doug McCooeye; assistant Steve Cassivi
The co-bronze medalist U.Q.A.M. Citadins: Emie Simard; Michelle Auger-Bellemare; Valerie Gauvin; Camille Michaud; Lorna Desrameaux-Simon; Catherine Bougie; Fatoumata Dia; Stephanie Michaud; Karine Ducharme; Naila Farrah; Anne-Marie Lavoie; Theresa Massock; Jessica Leger; coach (coached by Albena Branzova-Dimitrova
The runner-up Concordia Stingers: Kaylah Barrett; Natasha Raposo; Andreanne Gregoire-Boudreau; Tina Mpondani; Magalie Beaulieu; Ashley Clarke; Anne-Marie Prophete; Alex Boudreau; Serginah Estime; Emilie Hamel; Andrea Baptista; Evangeli Anteros; Mathilde Larochelle; Daphne Thouin; coach Keith Pruden; assistant Rastko Popovic; therapist Sean Christensen; therapist Matt Heron; therapist Christina Kowalenko; student therapist Niech-Elle-Simone Skeete; student therapist Madison Kilbourne
The champion McGill Martlets: Dianna Ros; Anneth Him-Lazarenko; Francoise Charest; Marie-Eve Martin; Tiye Traore; Natalie Larocque; Helene Bibeau; Valerie L’Ecuyer; Gabriela Hebert; Roya Assadi; Abena Addo; Caroline Binette; Brianne Coglon; Maude Dagenais; Hania El Banhawi; Shelby Eveleigh; Frances Grout-Brown; Alexandra Hendren; Camille Labaude; Eve Marquis-Poulin; Gurleen Walia; Tiye Traore; coach Ryan Thorne; assistant Helen Magdalinos; assistant Guillaume Giroux; assistant Ricki Bowles; athletic director Drew Love; SID Earl Zukerman