By Steve Petrick
The frustration level on the Ryerson women’s basketball team continues to boil as two weekend losses pushed its losing streak to four games.
The Rams put their playoff chances in hot water with a Friday night 63-56 loss to the Bishop’s Gaiters.
Miruna Muller had 19 points in both games to lead the Ryerson offence.
Even with the losses, Ryerson still holds onto the fourth and final playoff spot int he OUA East with a record of 6-7. The Rams are still six points ahead of fifth-place York.
The Rams have had a problem with falling into scoring slumps all season long. Time after time, they have seen leads disappear. There is no better example of this than this weekend. Against Laval, the Rams entered the half up by four, and at one point and a six point lead. But Laval never looked back after it went on an eight-point run midway through the second half.
Saturday’s game was a near carbon copy. The Rams led by seven at the half and were up by one with nine minutes to go, then Bishop’s scored nine straight points over a three minute span and shattered Ryerson’s confidence.
“We get high anxiety. Somehow we have a lull for ten minutes and it’s like we’re not all on the same page doing the same thing,” said fourth-year centre Daniela Puhst, who had a combined 20 points over the weekend.
Rams head coach Sandra Pothier agrees Ryerson’s problem is psychological.
“Sometimes when other teams are picking up our defence I think we panic a bit. They have to make adjustments in believing in themselves and having confidence in each other. They have to play not one on one, but play as a team,” she said.
Pothier said her team is playing better basketball than it did earlier in the year. She said the Rams performed better against Bishop’s in the first half Saturday than when they beat the Gaiters on their home court in November.
“They were heartbreaking losses because [Ryerson] did so many good things,” Pothier said.
With only six games remaining it’s crunch time for the Rams now.
This weekend they travel to Montreal to take on Concordia and McGill.
Puhst says the team is determined to work through its slump.
“We keep trying to correct something during the week in practice and then we seem to make a mistake from the week before that we’ve already corrected, we have to put it all together. I’m looking forward to practice this week. Our games reflect our week of practice,” she said.
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