Stingers 64, Martlets 46: Concordia earns its first conference win of 2025
The Stingers women’s basketball team takes care of business against its longtime foe
The Concordia University women’s basketball team picked up its first 2025 victory in Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec play by downing the McGill University Martlets 64-46 on Saturday, Jan. 18 at John Dore Court. Concordia improved its conference record to 3-6, while McGill fell to 7-3.
Three Stingers hit double-digit points: Guard Victoria Lawrence led the way with an all-around statline of 16 points, nine rebounds and six steals, while forward Serena Tchida chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds, and point guard Kayla Brutus added 10 points.
Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens emphasized the importance of securing a first conference win, particularly after an away loss to the same Martlets two days prior.
“We had an opportunity that we didn't take advantage of, and so we let that one go,” Gittens said. “And there wasn't much talking about it after the game, or even yesterday in practice. We know what we have to do. So it's just about us going out there and competing at a high level.”
The first quarter looked to be crucial for the Stingers. An early flurry of baskets pushed Concordia’s lead to five as time wound down, and momentum seemed to be firmly on the home team’s side. However, Martlets guard Daniella Mbengo hit two quick three-pointers to add to her 10 first-quarter points and send McGill into the break with a one-point lead.
Nevertheless, the Stingers remained vigilant in the second quarter. Lawrence led the charge with eight of her points in the frame as the Stingers stormed back and carried their momentum into halftime leading 36-29.
Gittens praised her team’s mentality after withstanding a potentially back-breaking run.
“Basketball is a game of runs. Teams are good—they're going to go on their own runs,” she said. “You’ve got to sustain that. It's easy when you're up, but when your back's against the wall what are you going to do? It's just maintaining that noise and understanding it's a game of runs.”
The second half brought more of the same, as the Stingers slowly closed out the victory. Concordia’s defence held the Martlets to 6-of-24 shooting in the final two quarters, good for an ugly 25 per cent clip.
Overall, McGill shot just 34.6 per cent from the field for the game. Mbengo led the Martlets in scoring with 11 points but was held to just one point in the final three quarters after her hot first quarter. Emma-Jane Scotten finished with 10 points for McGill, and guard-forward Erica Simeone added six points and seven boards.
A defensive-minded coach, Gittens lauded her squad’s performance, which included a 27-20 advantage in turnovers and more than doubling up the Martlets in steals, 15-7.
“You can ask any other coach—one thing that I've been very big on with our team is to defend,” Gittens said. “Because to me, it's the one thing that you can control. So we stayed locked in for the four quarters and defended really well, and that was the outcome.”
With back-to-back matchups against the last-place Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins on the horizon, Gittens knows it’s time for her team to make a run and string together victories. But she’s not taking the Citadins lightly.
“I've seen it before, where I was the number one team in the conference, and you lose games you're not supposed to lose,” Gittens said. “So we're going in like they're the number one team in the conference. We can't lose sight that they’re still university basketball players, and they can grind out a W as well.”
Concordia enters its first of two matchups with UQAM in three days when the Citadins visit John Dore Court on Thursday, Jan. 30. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.