TORONTO – Sofia Paska recorded 22 points and 12 rebounds for the double-double as her fifth 20+ night of the season was enough to lift the Ryerson Rams women's basketball team to a 64-51 win over the York Lions at the Tait McKenzie Centre Saturday night.

The combination of Paska and Kellie Ring's 14 points were simply too much for the Lions to overcome in the loss, despite a late push in the second half.

The Rams opened the game with a 9-0 run and kept their lead to nine by taking a 21-12 lead into the second quarter.  The Rams did an excellent job in the second quarter by getting to the line for easy points. 

C'iarah Gabriel-Robinson of the Rams heated up in the second both on the defensive glass and from the offensive floor.  She finished the night with seven points and five rebounds as her play helped the Rams score 21 in the quarter to take a 42-24 lead into the dressing room at the half.

Robinson continued her stellar play into the third quarter and helped bolster a 23-point lead for the Rams midway through the quarter.  An Emma Fraser jump shot assisted by Faatimah A with three seconds left lifted the Rams off their seats on the bench as the Rams led 55-34 after three quarters.

The Lions showed incredible desperation to start the fourth and bolted for an 11-2 run.  Shauney Fischer, who led the Lions with 12 points on the night, took over on the glass and gave the Lions a number of opportunities to capitalize on the fast break.  Fischer knocked down two final free throws for the Lions but that was as close as they got as the Rams held on for a 64-51 win.

With the victory, the Rams pull within two points of the first place Queen's Gaels in the East.  The Rams now hold a 9-2 record for 18 points and are an impressive 9-1 in their last 10 games.

The Rams return to game action next Saturday, January 21st, as they travel to the Physical Activities Complex to take on the Waterloo Warriors.  

Source: Ryerson Rams

Carleton moves to 8-1 in conference play with 67-39 win over Laurentian

OTTAWA, ON — The Ravens women's basketball team continued its excellent run of form in OUA action on Saturday, as Carleton collected its eighth consecutive regular-season victory with a 67-39 win over the Laurentian Voyageurs at the Ravens' Nest.

BOX SCORE

Fourth-year guard Steph Carr (Stittsville, ON) paced the Ravens' attack with a season-high 17 points (5-for-9 3PT FG), while OUA All-Star Heather Lindsay (Ottawa, ON) dominated in the paint to collect a fifth consecutive double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds.

The Ravens fell behind in the game's opening minutes, but a pair of 3-point makes by sharpshooter Steph Carr propelled Carleton on a 9-0 run and an 11-6 advantage after one. It was a sloppy beginning to the divisional matchup, as both teams turned the ball over eight times in the quarter. Carleton's Elizabeth Leblanc (London, ON) made the defensive play of the first half with an emphatic block that sent a Laurentian Voyageur layup attempt flying out of bounds.

Carleton continued to do an effective job of keeping the Voyageurs off of the scoreboard in the second, limiting the visitors to just 13 points after two quarters. Nipissing shot 4-of-23 (17.4%) in the first half, with nine of their 13 points coming from Mackenize Robinson. Although the Ravens started slowly, Elizabeth Leblanc's strong drives to the hoop resulted in numerous opportunities from the charity stripe. The third-year forward led  the Ravens with nine points (7-7 FT) midway through the contest as Carleton found itself up 31-13 at the intermission.

Following the break, both teams managed to find more offensive flow in a high-scoring third quarter. Carleton forward Heather Lindsay made an impact early in the period with eight points, while the Ravens' three-point game was on point as four different players buried triples resulting in a 56-29 score for CU heading into the fourth.

While the uptempo nature of the third did not carry over into the fourth, Carleton's ability to use up the clock allowed the Ravens to ice the contest. Guard Steph Carr nailed her fifth shot from beyond the arc in the final quarter to complete her fine shooting performance, while Heather Lindsay added a few buckets late in regulation to finish off Laurentian.

The Ravens shot 40% from the field against the Voyageurs, marking the seventh time in nine regular-season games that the team has hit at least 40% of its attempts. Laurentian struggled with a 12 of 50 (24%) shooting night, as Carleton took away floor space and suffocated the V's on offence all game.

Forward Catherine Traer (Chelsea, QC) finished the outing with 11 points (5-12 FG), hitting double figures in scoring for the seventh time in nine games.

With a record of 8-1, the Ravens will head to Montpetit Hall for a highly-anticipated weeknight date with the Ottawa Gee-Gees on January 17. Carleton leads the OUA North division by a game over uOttawa (7-2), who would love nothing more than to upset their nationally-ranked city neighbours in the first of two scheduled games in 2016-17.

Source: Carleton Ravens

Priamo drops season-high 19, Gaels drop Blues 86-63 for 10th win

KINGSTON, Ont. (January 14, 2017)- Andrea Priamo tallied a season-high 19 points, and the Queen's Gaels women's basketball team continue to remain the only undefeated team in the conference, as they defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues 86-63 on Saturday evening at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC).
 
Priamo was 8-of-15 from the field, 3-of-4 from the free-throw line, and recorded seven rebounds in the victory, while Robyn Pearson added a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds for the national No. 5 ranked Gaels, who improve to 10-0 in conference play.
 
Queen's shot 46.2% from the field, their second-highest efficiency in conference play, and out-rebounded Toronto 46-29. Rahshida Atkinson drained a game-high 24 points in a losing cause for the Blues, who fall to the .500 mark with a 6-6 record.
 
GAME FLOW
The Gaels held the visiting Blues to a 21.4% offensive efficiency and three field-goals in the opening 10 minutes of the contest, while converting on 50% of their attempts to take a commanding 22-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
The Blues hit their first two shots in the second, including a three by Keyira Parkes, to cut the lead down to six. The Gaels post players went to work short after, as Veronika Lavergne (Ottawa) and Pearson (Toronto) earned back-to-back trips to the foul-line to push the lead back up to double-digits. Sarah Saftich (Markham, Ont.) then hit her second three-pointer of the half, giving the hosts a 14-point lead midway through the second.
 
The Gaels continued to roll offensively, finishing the half with just under a 45% efficiency while hitting 11 of 16 free-throws to take a 44-26 lead into the break. Pearson led all players with 11 points and seven boards in the first half.
 
Toronto's offense found its stride a bit more in the third quarter, almost matching its first half output by scoring 18 points in the period. Unfortunately for the Blues, the nationally-ranked Gaels managed two more points, and extended the lead to 20 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
 
After surrendering the first six points of the fourth, Emily Hazlett (Fredericton, N.B.) drove to the basket and forced a Toronto foul while picking up a bucket. She converted her free-throw to push the lead back up to 17. Soon after, Marianne Alarie followed up a missed lay-up and picked up two points while being fouled after a Toronto turnover. The Sudbury, Ont. native missed her free-throw, but Priamo (Guelph, Ont.) grabbed the rebound and notched the put-back, giving Queen's a 21-point lead.
 
The Gaels would cruise from there to maintain their unblemished regular season record.
 
FINAL SAY
"It's tough mentally coming back from a game like yesterday's," said head coach Dave Wilson. "Having gone into overtime against a top ten team, and I think it showed a bit. I think we weren't as sharp as we could be throughout a good portion of the game, particularly with that second quarter. We were a little careless with the ball and that is one of the things we wanted to change (in the second half). We wanted to take care of the ball more, and I thought we did that in the second half."
 
On Andrea Priamo's performance
"Andrea's been one of our most steady players all the way through the season, and her production is anywhere from 8 to 12 points per game. We saw the opportunity in terms of match-ups that the moves she has against a smaller player is very hard to defend and she has done a good job mastering those moves. So it was nice for her to take advantage of that."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
4- Robyn Pearson earned her fourth double-double of the season
86- The Gaels' 86 points was their second-highest output in conference play
29- Queen's picked up 29 points off of 23 Blues turnovers
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels hit the road next weekend to take on the Brock Badgers and McMaster Marauders. The women return to the ARC on January 27 and 28 to host Nipissing and Laurentian respectively.

Source: Queen's Gaels

Wilk'y Way: Emily Wilk leads Warriors past T-Birds

Emily Wilk (Oakville) put up 15 points in Waterloo's second straight victory over the visiting Algoma Thunderbirds as the black and gold topped the visitors 56-45 on Saturday night at the PAC.

The win moved Waterloo to 5-6 on the season while Algoma dropped to 1-10.

The Warriors got off to a slow start in this contest but put up 17 and 19 points in the 2nd and 4th quarters to earn the 11 point victory.

Three other Warriors joined Wilk in double figures as rookie forward Breanna Hudspeth (Burlington) continued her impressive rookie campaign with 11 more points while Jenel Ulman (Hamilton) and Kristen Osborne (Markham) each tallied 10.  On the boards it was Hudspeth leading the way with six rebounds while Soffie Persson also had six.  

The Thunderbirds were led by Karina Cole who had 15 points in the contest while Jamerka Martin put up 10.

Waterloo will look to move to .500 on Wednesday when they make the short trip across the street to battle Laurier. Game time is set for 7pm.

Source: Waterloo Warriors