Women’s Basketball: Stingers Drop Game to Laval On Senior Day
Rouge et Or Edge Concordia 77-67 in Final Stingers Home Game
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With their friends and families in attendance at the John Dore Gym, three Stingers took their final bows on their home floor on Feb. 25 when they faced the Laval Rouge Et Or.
Seniors Marilyse Roy-Viau, Richelle Gregoire and Tamara Pinard-Devos were honoured with a short ceremony before the game. Emotions aside though, all three players knew how important this game was.
“It was nice that everyone came out to see us today,” said Marilyse Roy-Viau. “But, at the end of the day, we knew we had to compete. This was a big game.”
Based on how all three of those graduating seniors performed, their commitment to this final game was clear.
With just over five and a half minutes to play and Laval up 59-58, Roy-Viau drove to the basket and converted a contested layup to give Concordia their first lead since much earlier in the contest. After a three-pointer by Laval on the other end, Roy-Viau used the entire shot clock and responded with a three-pointer of her own, putting the Stingers back up by two.
Up until the final minutes of the fourth quarter, the game had been moving along at an absolutely frantic pace. Neither team had really been able to get, and sustain a lead. Typically, it was Laval that would find a bit of daylight by taking leads via the three-point shot—which they shot at an impressive 42.9 per cent clip in the game–and Concordia responding with a scoring run of their own.
At the three and a half minute mark and the game tied at 67, Laval was finally able to take the lead. They connected on three consecutive three-pointers, to which Concordia had no response.
“The biggest thing we learned from them was never to let them get open threes,” said Richelle Gregoire.
Despite the loss, the Stingers were resilient against a tough team. They managed to stay in the game, due in large part to the play of their three seniors.
Roy-Viau finished with a game-high of 27 points, along with six rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Richelle Gregoire scored 14 points, while collecting four rebounds, dishing four assists and racking up three steals.
Tamara Pinard-Devos finished with a comparatively modest six points, but had three assists, two rebounds and a steal, as well.
“We played really well as a team today,” said Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens. “But those three really played hard for us. They have been all year.”
The Stingers, by virtue of finishing as the fourth seed in the Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec standings, will face the Laval Rouge Et Or again in the semi-finals of the “Final Four” next Thursday at Centre Pierre Charbonneau in Montreal. Coach Gittens is optimistic about her team’s capacity.
“We took them to overtime once and came so close today,” said Gittens. “We know we can compete against this team—it’ll just come down to tightening a few things up.
