Holly Stewart

All the Martlets want for Christmas are two more wins to keep their regular season record unblemished going into the winter break. On Saturday, they took a step towards that goal by beating the UQAM Citadins 76-70 to improve to 4-0. Even when the pressure was on, the Martlets kept their composure and came out on top.

The Martlets led 19-17 at the end of the first quarter and 40-28 at halftime.

Despite heading into the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead, McGill’s defence floundered and UQAM was able to close the gap, gaining the lead with five minutes to play. After a McGill time out, forward Anneth Him-Lazarenko used her signature drop-step to score, finishing with six points in the fourth. In the last two minutes of the game, UQAM resorted to fouling to get the ball back and the team’s Marjolaine Gauthier-Théorêt fouled out with 24 seconds to go. Despite UQAM’s relentless efforts, McGill went six for six at the line in the last few minutes of the game and stayed patient on offence. Power forward Valerie L’Ecuyer, who scored eight points, made a huge contribution on the boards by grabbing seven offensive and three defensive rebounds.

“It went well,” L’Ecuyer said. “We had a great comeback at the end but I think we all need to work on the little things, like being sharp on pressure and reducing our turnovers.”

Natalie Larocque showed off an impressive all-around game with 20 points, three three-pointers, and five rebounds. She was also perfect from the stripe, making nine out of nine free throw attempts.

“Previously, I hadn’t been driving to the basket, but today I didn’t want to settle for my outside shot,” Larocque said. “In the first half it made it really easy for me to find my teammates. In the second half, I drove to the basket because my teammates were covered and UQAM was fouling.”

“The team worked really hard and we played with leadership and poise,” said Head Coach Ryan Thorne. “On our part, there were a few breakdowns on defence and communication, but UQAM also made some highly contested shots. However, saying that, we allowed too many points today. We are where we want to be at offensively with about 70-80 points, but we are aiming for 40 points for the other team. As we are working towards the championships, we will definitely need to work on our defence.”

Larocque agreed with her coach about the team’s goals.

“The good thing about this team is that every night somebody else contributes and somebody else steps up,” said Larocque. “Right now, we are feeling pretty good with a 4-0 record, but from the beginning we knew our objective is the championships and this game is a little step towards that.”

The Martlets’ last game before the break is at home on December 3 at 6 p.m. against the University of Laval.