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Rams guard McKenzie Sigurdson dribbles the ball against York Lions. Photo: Allan Perkins
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Women’s basketball steamroll York Lions

By Allan Perkins

Never before in the history of the Ryerson women’s basketball team have they ever scored above 93 points in a regular season game. Wednesday night, they scored 99.

 

The Rams, ranked second in the country, returned to action after the holiday break with a 99-61 steamrolling of the York Lions at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, improving to 6-1 on the season. The offense was on full display for Ryerson as they shot 51.5 per cent from the field, including almost 43 per cent from three.

 

“It was tough for [Sofia Paska] to get any looks, to get any opportunities, but the way they defended her created chances for everybody else and I think those are the types of contributions that we love to see and prove that if they’re going to take away one option, we got lots of other options,” said Rams’ Head Coach Carly Clarke.

 

Some of those other options were Keneca Pingue-Giles and Mariah Nunes, who had 18 and 22 points, respectively. Both attacked the rim with force and both were able to get to the line. York couldn’t rotate fast enough to stop either of them and their playmaking ability was largely responsible for the record-setting night.

 

“I think working them when we were on defence made them tired, which allowed us to get to the rim and look for kick-outs and dish to the post, so I think it just worked out well,” said Nunes.

 

After a closely contested first quarter in which the Rams only won 20-17, it looked more like a close game than it did a record-setting night. Better execution and a faster pace benefitted Ryerson in the second quarter, which they dominated 32-18 and never looked back.

 

“York plays really really hard and does lots of good things that challenge us, especially early on, but I thought we stuck with our game plan,” said Clarke.

 

The Rams will look ahead to Saturday when they host the 7-1 division leading Queens Gaels. Each team has only one loss and the winner of the matchup will either move into, or remain in first place in the division.

 

The Gaels will be looking for revenge from last year, as Ryerson beat them three times during the season, including in the OUA semifinal last year, ending their season.
“They play incredibly hard and play smart so we’ll have to prepare well over the next two days and make sure that we bring our best on Saturday,” Clarke said.

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