By Allan Perkins
The Ryerson women’s basketball team steamrolled Waterloo en route to an 80-48 victory Saturday afternoon at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, improving their regular season record to a perfect 3-0 thus far. The Rams outscored the Warriors by 14 in every quarter except the second, which the teams played even. Both the fast-paced offence and the defensive intensity were on display for Ryerson, who had four players score in double figures.
Ryerson got out to an early lead, going ahead 14-4 after the first five minutes led by Silvana Jez. She was a force early bringing energy, attacking the basket and getting to the line, dropping nine first half points.
Waterloo fought back in the second quarter, trimming the early deficit they found themselves in to just 11 points when they began to find their stroke from outside. However, Rams’ guard Keneca Pingue-Giles went coast-to-coast for an athletic spinning layup, pushing the lead back to 13. The Rams never looked back, going on to win the half 40-26.
Ryerson struggled from outside in the first half, going 0-10 from beyond the arc. Despite their struggles from outside, Waterloo could do little to stop them on offence. The Rams took it inside time and time again in the second half, led by Mariah Nunes, who scored 15 and added four rebounds.
“I think one of our biggest strengths especially is getting inside and attacking the paint,” said Nunes.
The second half saw the minutes distributed more evenly among Ryerson’s bench, including Tashana McDonald, who collected her first ever OUA point with a made free throw. She finished with five points in total.
Head Coach Carly Clarke spoke about the importance of having a deep bench.
“We have truly, 10, 11, 12 people that can go on the floor and can play in pretty much any situation,” Clarke said.
She also stressed the importance of not taking the Warriors lightly — Waterloo came into the game 0-3 — adding that Ryerson’s level of intensity should stay the same for each and every opponent, regardless of their record.
“Whoever we play, we really emphasize the process and we want to play well and focus on every possession for 40 minutes no matter who we’re playing against,” Clarke said.
The Rams will look to continue their winning ways when they head to Windsor next week to take on the 2-1 Lancers. They dropped their last game to Western 64-60.
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