Strong Start Has Stingers Buzzing

Women’s B-Ball Team Improves to 3-0 After Beating Gaiters

SportsEric White — Published November 29, 2011

It was a hard-fought battle, but Concordia’s women’s basketball team came out on top last Friday, nudging the Bishop’s University Gaiters 59-56.

Stingers head coach Keith Pruden believed the game was much closer than it should have been, since his side missed 15 free throws.

“I’m really happy we won,” said Pruden. “I thought we showed some toughness and some poise at the end, but we couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn from the free-throw line, so I’m not that happy with our actual execution.”

Both sides came out strong in the first quarter, and both seemed to be more focused on scoring than on playing defense.

Despite going down 9-3 early, Stingers showed no signs of giving up as they scored seven consecutive points to take a 10-9 lead and went into halftime up 31-27.

After halftime the game became a bit more defensive, with the Gaiters applying more of a press in an effort to slow down the Stingers.

ConU point guard Ashley Clarke, whose sharp passing broke up the Gaiters’ defense throughout the night, spoke about the importance of staying focused in such a tight game.

“Emotional control is number one,” she said. “[We needed to] just stay composed and not play down to their level.”

Going into the final quarter, the Stingers had a tight 43-42 lead, and the game intensified. For much of the quarter, Stingers guard Kaylah Barrett acted as more of a playmaker, and she thrived in the role, scoring a game-high 17 points on the night.

After multiple ties and lead changes, a pivotal point came about halfway through the quarter. Barrett was fouled as she went up for a three-pointer, and converted all three of her free throws, putting the Stingers up 54-49.

As a constant theme throughout the game, the Gaiters wouldn’t give up and came back and the Stingers weren’t able to close, as Bishop’s tied the game at 54-54 with 1:45 left.

Despite the Gaiters getting two open three-point chances in the dying moments, the Stingers prevailed, winning the game 59-56.

The team can now look forward to continuing their strong conference play.

“There’s lots of room for improvement, but I can’t not be pleased with being 3-0 at this point,” Pruden said. “We have to get smarter going into the second half of the season. We’re showing some signs [of improvement but] it’s an ongoing process.”

The Stingers resume play Jan. 5 when they visit the Université du Québec à Montréal Citadins. Tipoff is at 5:00 p.m.