TORONTO – The No. 2 Ryerson Rams women's basketball team nearly reached triple digits for the first time in team history but set a new record with a 99-61 victory over the York Lions on Wednesday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
BOXSCORE
The 99 points is the most scored in a single game for the Rams. It was a team effort to get there with all 11 players who saw the court register points. Mariah Nunes (Ajax, Ont.) had a game-high 22 points in just 21 minutes. Also reaching double figures for the Rams were Keneca Pingue-Giles (Winnipeg, Man.) with 18, Katherine Follis (Toronto) with a new career-high of 13 points, and Nicole DiDomenico (Niagara Falls, Ont.) with ten points in 11 minutes off the bench.
Follis made her first career start and finished with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and nine rebounds, her most productive night as a Ram.
One of Ryerson's top scorers in Sofia Paska was limited to just two points on the night which coach Carly Clarke credited the Lions defence for. However, the attention to Paska provided opportunities for others to step up.
“We had to play for 40 minutes. York plays really hard and they do lots of good things that challenged us today, especially early on. They were literally glued to Sof today so it was tough for her to get any looks or opportunities but the way they defended her created chances for everybody else. Those are the types of contributions that we love to see and proves…that we have lots of other options.”
The Lions came out of the gate strong on Wednesday and kept the Rams in check throughout the first ten minutes of play. At the end of the quarter Ryerson led by just three at 20-17. The Ryerson offence turned it up a notch in the second, however, as the Rams posted 32 points in the frame to take a 52-35 lead into halftime.
From there the Rams defence limited York to just 26 second half points while adding another 47 of their own to cruise to the 99-61 victory.
“Not even focusing on the 99 points, just the fact that everyone on our team got on the floor and were able to contribute in so many aspects, both offensively and defensively…was the biggest part of it,” said Nunes about the victory.
York's Ishanaa Seupersadsingh finished with a game-high 22 points in the loss.
The Rams move to 6-1 on the season and into a tie for first place in the OUA East division with the Queen's Gaels. Those Gaels pay a visit to the Mattamy Athletic Centre this Saturday night in a battle of nationally ranked squads. This week's Top Ten poll placed the Gaels in the No. 10 spot in the nation. Action kicks off at 6:00 p.m. and will be live on OUA.tv
