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McMaster University Athletics

HOME OF THE MCMASTER MARAUDERS
WBB - Gates - U SPORTS QF
Hung Le
68
Concordia Stingers CONC
86
Winner McMaster Marauders MAC
Concordia Stingers CONC
68
Final
86
McMaster Marauders MAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Concordia Stingers CONC 19 9 26 14 68
McMaster Marauders MAC 26 18 27 15 86

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Fraser Caldwell, Sport Information Officer

Women's Basketball: Gates Pours in 32 as Marauders Dispatch Stingers 86-68 to Advance to National Semifinal

McMaster will meet the Saskatchewan Huskies Saturday

The Marauders took a few minutes to find their feet Thursday, but once they did, the newly-crowned OUA champions delivered a statement win to open the U SPORTS Championship.

Led by a career afternoon from second-year guard Sarah Gates, McMaster blew away the seventh-seeded Concordia Stingers 86-68 in a national quarter-final to advance to the U SPORTS semifinals for the third time in team history.

The Marauders snapped a four-game losing streak at the national championship tournament, with their first win since clinching bronze at the expense of the Laval Rouge et Or in 2008.

McMaster has yet to win a national semifinal in two previous attempts (2008 and 1990), but has recovered to win bronze on both occasions.

The Marauders will meet the Canada West champions, the third-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies, in a U SPORTS semifinal at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 9. McMaster defeated Saskatchewan 72-71 in non-conference play in October, and has won the last three meetings between the two.

Newly named an OUA Second Team All-Star in February, Gates took her career to new heights Thursday in pouring in a career single game high 32 points in the win. She hit nine of 21 shots from the floor and five of 13 from three-point range, and added seven rebounds for good measure.

"For a second-year player, being able to score the way (Gates) does is really incredible and when you think that we have her for three more years, and she is only going to get better, is pretty outstanding," said Marauders head coach Theresa Burns.  

"She breaks games wide open for us, and if you don't protect the deep ball, she is going to shoot a deep ball on you, but she is also strong enough to get herself to the rim. She just has a nose to win, plain and simple."

Mac's depth was on full display, as five players hit double digits in scoring, including Gates, Hilary Hanaka (16), Linnaea Harper (14), Christina Buttenham (11) and Olivia Wilson (10). Wilson notched a double double with 11 rebounds.

The Marauders trailed for much of the opening quarter, but carved out their first lead with five minutes to play when Hanaka and Gates hit consecutive buckets from close range for 13-12. Establishing control from there, McMaster sunk a dagger at the buzzer when Julia Hanaka was good from three-point range to push the Marauders ahead 26-19.

That's when Gates took over proceedings, scoring 10 points inside the first four minutes of the second quarter to stretch McMaster's lead to 38-20 after a layup in transition. The team as a whole slowed midway through the quarter, but the damage was already done, and the Marauder guard entered the locker room at half with 20 points to her name, having already hit four triples.

With a comfortable, 16-point lead in hand as they entered the third quarter, the Marauders were largely content to trade buckets with the Stingers, as the rest of the team's core scorers around Gates came to life.

The most dramatic of those was Harper, who scored all 14 of her points Thursday in the second half, and hit two key layups midway through the third to help her team keep pace as the Stingers chased momentum.

Mac's lead shrunk to as few as 11 points late in the quarter, but swelled back to 17 at the buzzer when Harper knocked down triples on consecutive possessions.

Although the result was never in serious doubt, Concordia pulled to within nine points when newly-minted U SPORTS Rookie of the Year Myriam Leclerc hit a pair of free throws with 5:51 to play.

But McMaster responded immediately with layups on consecutive possessions and sped to the finish line from there.

"We're really happy with our team room right now," said Burns in the wake of the win. "We are obviously happy, but they think don't think they played their best today. They think there is still a lot more to come, which I like."

"We would be lying if we didn't say we were chasing a gold medal. We wanted a conference gold medal, we would love a national medal. You're playing some of the top teams in the country, it's a tall task. But we're up for the challenge and we're glad to have the opportunity."
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