A Stressful Game

Stingers Begin Season with Tight Road Win Against UQAM

SportsYacine Bouhali — Published November 12, 2012

The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team kicked off their 2012 campaign with a tight 77-72 road win against the Université de Québec à Montréal Citadins last Wednesday.

Leading 65-45 near the end of the fourth period, the Stingers might’ve thought the game was already in the books, but the Citadins certainly didn’t think so. Concordia, who had looked so sharp during the first three quarters, started to lose confidence and momentum by trying to force plays and committing turnovers.

It allowed the Citadins to climb back from their earlier 20-point deficit as they narrowed the score to 76-72 with just 20 seconds left in the game. But that’s as close as they would get as the Stingers were able to hold on for the precious first win.

“There’s really no excuse for giving up a lead like that,” said head coach Keith Pruden after the game. “I’m not very happy with the way we played on defense in that last quarter, but at this stage of the season, I’ll take the win.”

Concordia’s defense had played smartly during the first three quarters, with the Stingers forcing the Citadins to take many shots from the outside, then rebounding the ball and counter-attacking.

Guard Kaylah Barrett led the offense with 21 points, some of which crucially came at the end of the game.

“I got a great team behind me,” said Barrett when asked about her solid performance. “We got some great rookies this year and many veterans also came back, so we’re pretty solid as a team.”

First-year forward Marilyse Roy-Viau also had a strong performance, looking more like a veteran than a rookie with 14 points and three rebounds in the game.

“I felt stressed and nervous,” said the freshman when asked about her first CIS game. “I’m just happy that we won and I can’t wait to next week’s home-opener.”

Point guard Ashley Clarke also had a noticeably strong game, scoring two three-point shots and finishing the game with nine points and eight rebounds.

The Stingers play their home opener on Nov. 15 against the Laval Rouge et Or. Tipoff is at 6:00 p.m.