Three-point surge in fourth quarter helps Rams take down No. 8 Badgers

By Donald Higney

The Ryerson Rams women’s basketball ended the weekend with an 81-66 win over the Brock Badgers at the Mattamy Athletic Centre on Feb. 1.

Four threes from second-year forward Rachel Farwell in the fourth quarter helped Ryerson pull away from Brock as they entered the final frame tied at 55.

Farwell, who leads the Ontario University Athletics in three-point percentage, dropped a career-high 23 points.

Rams starters Marin Scotten and Stefanija Mrvaljevic also hit crucial threes in the fourth to put the Badgers away.

“We definitely know we have some threatening three-point shooters on this team,” said Farewell. “It’s always been something we acknowledge in our offence along with how the defence played us. We just found those opportunities and knocked them down in the end.”

Ryerson shot 42 per cent from behind the arc and hit six of their 10 threes in the fourth quarter.

Scotten finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds while Mrvaljevic finished with nine points and eight rebounds. With the victory, it pushes Ryerson into a tie for first place in the OUA Central Division with Brock.

In the first half, Ryerson did a stellar job of keeping the ball out of the hands of Brock’s point guard Melissa Tatti, who leads the OUA in points and assists per game.

The Rams held Tatti to only two shot attempts in the first half. It was Rams guard Hayley Robertson that had the primary assignment of guarding her. Robertson held Tatti to 10 points on 2-13 shooting in the 15-point win.

“She was amazing tonight,” said Rams head coach Carly Clarke. “We had a gameplan on her [Tatti] and Hayley took it on for 40 minutes, neither of them stepped off the floor. She was an anchor for us on both ends tonight.”

Robertson had a near triple-double, putting up 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Second chance points helped secure the win for Ryerson, as they dominated the battle with 23 points compared to Brock’s nine.

Contributions from forwards Emma Fraser and Bronwyn Williams didn’t go unnoticed. They combined for seven of 16 offensive rebounds.

UP NEXT: Ryerson hits the road for a two-game road trip. Their first visit is against the Guelph Gryphons on Feb. 5 at the Guelph Gryphons Athletic Centre. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.