Rookie Guerin rocks as Martlet hoopsters roll over Gaiters, win streak now at six
LENNOXVILLE, Que. -- Freshman Marika Guerin of Sorel, Que., scored a game-high 14 points as the No.3-ranked McGill women's basketball team waltzed to a 67-50 victory over Bishop's University at the BU gymnasium, Saturday.
The victory, McGill's 13th in a row over the Gaiters, improved their division-leading record to 6-0 atop the RSEQ conference. The winless Gaiters stumbled to 0-6.
McGill came out of the gate slow and found themselves deadlocked with the Gaiters 11-11 at the end of the first quarter. The Martlets then exploded offensively in the second stanza scoring 22 points to take a 33-21 lead into halftime. Following the break, McGill kept the offence rolling and put up 21 in the quarter, widening the gap to 54-33 after three quarters.
Guerin, a 5-foot-4 guard from Sorel, Que., was 5-for-10 from the floor -- including a 2-for-2 performance from downtown. The kinesiology freshmen also went 2-for-2 at the foul line and was credited with two steals and one assist. "This is the kind of thing we know she can do," said McGill head coach Ryan Thorne. "She plays a lot of quality minutes and I was happy with her performance."
McGill had three other players in double-digit scoring. Dianna Ros, a senior guard from Montreal, had 11 points on a strong 4-of-6 shooting night, which included one from long range. She also went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Teammate Alex Kiss-Rusk, a 6-foot-4 centre held her own in the low block adding 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Junior forward Mariam Sylla, the reigning two-time conference player of the year, collected 10 points and 10 rebounds, to register her league-leading third "double-double" of the season and 19th in 37 career league games.
The Martlets lone sore spot came in the turnover department where the coughed up the ball an unbelievable 29 times. "We turned the ball over way too much," added Thorne. "We are trying to increase the pace of our play so you have to expect it but we need to learn when there isn't anything in transition, to just pull it out and run the offence."
As sloppy as McGill was with the ball, they managed to force Bishop's into 31 miscues of their own, 18 of them on steals.
Naomi Zitt-James of Ajax, Ont., and Noemie Hamel-Petit of Magog, Que., were the only Gaiters in double-digit scoring with 14 and 11 points, respectively, while Edith Noblecilla, a native of Ecuador, pitched in seven points with a solid game-high six assists.
McGill shot 35.5 per cent from the field (22/62), went 5-for-12 from three-point range and sank a stellar 18 of 20 from the line (90%). Bishop's shot 37.7 per cent from the floor (20/53) and 5-for-12 from beyond the arc. They went 5-for-5 from the line.
The Martlets (6-0) will now switch their focus to the heated Quebec City rivalry with Laval and will travel to the third-place Rouge et Or (3-3) on Thursday (Jan. 15). Tip-off is at 6.p.m and the game is also scheduled to be streamed online.
Bishop's (0-6), still in search of their elusive first win, will host second-place Concordia (1-3) on Jan. 15.
