Henri Dessureaux – Contributor

Coming off a three game win streak, the Gaiters Women’s Basketball team turned their eyes to the team ahead of them in the standings as playoffs continue to approach. With McGill directly in front of them, BU welcomed them to Mitchell Gym to look to close the gap between the two sides. 

Image courtesy of Annie White

Both sides came into the affair knowing that a loss would likely hurt their position in the standings heading into playoffs, and it showed early on. McGill jumped out to a quick lead in the first, but a surge from the Gaiters in the second quarter helped them take a 32-28 lead into half-time. Both teams came out looking to lock each other down the rest of the way, as each team traded nearly identical blows with one another the rest of the way down the stretch, tying the third quarter 10-10 and the Martlets winning the fourth quarter 15-14. This wouldn’t be enough to help them claw back though as Bishop’s won a nail-biter at home by a score of 56-53. Eve Atchampone led the way with 15 points for the Gaiters, while Zou Boithias locked up a 10-point, 11-rebound “double-double” in the BU win.

After managing to slightly close the gap on McGill in their massive win, the team then traveled down to Montreal to face off against the Concordia Stingers. The Gaiters came into this contest missing Eve Atchampone from the lineup, a test of the resilience of the BU side without their top scorer being available. The first quarter was close as BU led by three points, before managing to increase their lead to 27-15 at the half way mark. The Stingers must have had a good half time speech as they came out and lost the third quarter only 18-17 before outscoring the Gaiters 18-7 in the fourth quarter and nearly capping off a comeback. BU managed to hang on for a 52-50 win, an impressive showing of their resilience in the absence of their top scorer. Sabryna Purich led the way with 17 points for Bishop’s en-route to the win.

In what would be the team’s final home game of the regular season, they hosted Senior Night, a game dedicated to all of the team players graduating this year. Moments like those are a reminder of how far they have come as both athletes and people in their time at Bishop’s and a testament to what it means to be a Gaiter. 

Their opponent for Senior Night was UQAM, a team who has yet to win a game this year. The first quarter proved to be close as Bishop’s only led 21-19, the smallest margin they would lead by the rest of the way. 26 second quarter points helped propel the Gaiters to their eventual 80-48 beatdown of UQAM, a perfect send-off at home for all the members graduating this year. Sabryna Purich once again led the way scoring 25 points en-route to the victory, while Zou Boithias secured another “double-double”, with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

While this is the team’s last home game of the regular season, they still have a game remaining as well as playoffs. Feb. 21, the team will travel to Quebec City to take on the number one team in RSEQ, ULaval. Stay tuned to find out when and where their playoff games will take place, we hope to see you come out and support your Gaiters!