With 1.3 seconds left in overtime, Ashley Clarke connected on a history-making three-point shot to give the Concordia Stingers a 75-74 victory over the Windsor Lancers - the No. 1-ranked women’s basketball team in the nation.
"It's the first time in the history of the program that Concordia has ever beat the No. 1 team in the country and that's dating back to 1974," said Stingers head coach Keith Pruden after the remarkable victory at the annual Reebok tournament on Saturday night at Concordia Gym.
Rookie forward Marilyse Roy-Viau led the Stingers with 18 points. All-Canadian Kaylah Barrett was also a key contributor with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Clarke finished the game with 11 points. However, Pruden says there are a lot of people who share in this success.
"We all feel pretty excited and absolutely everyone in the program deserves credit", Pruden said. “Whether they played a lot, were on the bench or didn't play, all the players work hard at practice and helped get us here."
The Stingers were unranked going into the game despite sitting in first place in the Quebec conference with a 4-1 win-loss record. Windsor had a 14-1 record against CIS schools before the loss to Concordia.
The Stingers will look forward to the next CIS Top 10 rankings expected out in early January.
"We will get ranked now," Pruden added. "But we have to use this victory to keep getting better. We can't have just one great game. We have to focus on our league. We want to win the league."
In the other game Saturday night, the unranked McGill Martlets upset the No. 5-ranked Carleton Ravens 57-52. Anneth Lazarenko played 36 minutes, picking up 14 points and five rebounds to lead the Martlets.
The tournament wraps up with Windsor meeting Carleton tomorrow at 11 a.m.
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