By Earl Zukerman
Three most certainly is a charm. Yesterday’s rare tripleheader, in which McGill hosted three playoff games (women’s hockey and men’s and women’s basketball), couldn’t have been any more charmed as all three McGill teams came away with important wins.
In women’s hockey, Leslie Oles of Beaconsfield Que., continued playing her hot hand, scoring a pair of aces and adding an assist as No.1-ranked Martlets spanked the No.3-ranked Montreal Carabins 6-1 in Game 1 of the RSEQ league championship series at McConnell Arena, Wednesday.
It was the 29th straight victory against CIS opponents for the Martlets, who can wrap up the best-of-three affair for the Ed Enos Trophy at CEPSUM Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. If a third game is needed, it is slated for Sunday at McConnell (3 p.m.), where McGill has now won 19 consecutive home playoff games since 2005.
For the complete hockey story, go here.
On the hardcourt, freshman Mariam Sylla scored nine points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds as the top-seeded McGill women’s basketball team survived a scare and escaped with a 54-47 decision over the visiting Laval Rouge et Or in an RSEQ sudden-death semifinal before a crowd of 310 at Love Competition Hall, yesterday.
McGill, which had a 41-31 margin in rebounding, never trailed in the game. They led 14-12 after the first quarter and 30-20 at the half. But the Rouge et Or came out with a different look after intermission, outscoring the Martlets 19-11 in the third stanza and closed the gap to 41-39 after three quarters. Laval actually tied the score at 41-41 early in the final stanza but were slayed by a trio of treys in the final minutes, coming from team captain Francoise Charest, point-guard Dianna Ros and forward Gabriela Hebert, which effectively snuffed out any hope for a Laval comeback. The Martlets advance to the league championship game for the second straight year.
For the complete women’s basketball story, click here.
On the men’s side, Adrian Hynes-Guery scored a game-high 24 points and Vincent Dufort registered a “double-double” as division-leading McGill easily disposed of fourth-place UQAM 72-43 in a sudden-death men’s basketball semifinal at Love Competition Hall, yesterday.
Bishop’s knocked off visiting Concordia 70-63 in the other semi, so the Gaiters will travel to Montreal on Saturday to take on the Redmen in the Quebec league championship game at 5 p.m., which follows the women’s final between Concordia and the Martlets (2 p.m.). It marks the first time in school history that McGill will be hosting both the men’s and women’s championship games.
For the complete men’s basketball story, click here.