Tourney MVP Larocque ties trey record as Martlet hoopsters win Naismith Classic
WATERLOO, Ont. - Tournament MVP Natalie Larocque of Quebec City scored a game-high 25 points as the McGill women's basketball team startled the Alberta Pandas 74-58 to capture the Naismith Classic tourney in Waterloo, Sunday.
It marked McGill's first victory over Alberta since Dec. 29, 1982 - when the Martlets hung on for a 60-58 decision - and evened their lifetime record against the Pandas at 2-2.
McGill had opened the tourney on Friday with a 70-58 win over Laurier and followed up with a 56-44 victory over host Waterloo, Saturday.
Larocque, a first-year transfer from Northern Michigan who previously starred at Dawson College, scored 47 points in the three games to go along with 13 rebounds, five steals and four assists. A 24-year-old master's student in physical therapy, she shot a sizzling 50 per cent from the field (15/30), an equally impressive 50 per cent from three-point range (10/20) and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul-line.
Against Alberta, Larocque was 7-for-13 from the floor, including 6-for-12 from the three-point arc and 5-for-5 from the line. Her half-dozen treys tied the team's single-game record set by Marie-Eve Martin last year.
Martin, a sophomore guard from Granby, Que., who joined Larocque on the all-tourney team, added 22 points and Him-Lazarenko, a native of Ste. Dorothée, Que., contributed a dozen points and pulled down a game-high six rebounds.
"We shot exceptionally well and played strong in our zone," said a pleased Ryan Thorne, in his eighth season as head coach of the Martlets. "Our defensive rotations were very good and we closed out the shooters. Offensively, they double-teamed our post (5-foot-10 junior Anneth Him-Lazarenko), so that opened up our shots from three-point range and that is one of our strengths with Larocque back there."
The Martlets shot 43 per cent from the field, 50 from beyond the arc (13/26) and 75 per cent from the line (15/20), which proved to be a deathly combination. McGill led 19-13 after the opening quarter, 40-25 at the half and 61-39 after three quarters.
McGill has won four of five preseason games and will now focus on their own Redbird Classic tournament, slated for Oct. 22-24, at love Competition hall. They open against UPEI on Friday afternoon (2 p.m.), followed by matchups against Toronto on Saturday (5 p.m.) and Waterloo on Sunday (2 p.m.)
MARTLET MURMURS: McGill is now 13-26 lifetime against the Canada West... The last tourney victory by the Martlets occurred Dec. 29-31, 2007, when they swept all three games at the UNB Helen Campbell tourney. Before that, the Martlets captured their own Redbird Classic in 2006.
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Athletics & Recreation
514-398-7012
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
