By Ben Waldman
- Rams lead 41-0 at halftime
- Ryerson’s Sofia Paska has game-high 20 points, six rebounds
- Nipissing shoots 0-for-24 in first half
Ryerson’s women’s basketball team didn’t just beat the Nipissing Lakers on Friday night in their home opener at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. They dismantled them.
The defending OUA champions used a shocking first half to cruise to a 73-35 win, earning their second victory of the season to improve to 2-1.
Ryerson opened the game on a 7-0 run. Soon, that 7-0 run stretched to 27-0 after the first quarter. By the time half time came around, the Rams were up 41-0.
Forward Sofia Paska and guard Kellie Ring led the Rams with 14 and 13 points respectively in the opening two quarters. Paska finished with a game-high 20 points and six rebounds in just over 18 minutes of play.
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Nipissing missed its first 24 shots of the night and didn’t score a single point until the 9:15 mark in the third quarter. At that point, they were down by 40.
But Ryerson’s first half was far from perfect; the team turned the ball over 11 times and gave the Lakers plenty of chances to score.
It was simply Ryerson’s night, and Rams head coach Carly Clarke wasn’t surprised.
“Our girls were executing the game plan and you could feel their energy come off that,” she said.
In the second half, Ryerson began to rest its starters, using the big lead as an opportunity to try out different defensive schemes.
The Lakers actually outscored the Rams 35-32 in the second half, but it was far from enough to spoil Ryerson’s first home game of the year.
UP NEXT: The Rams face Laurentian in the second of back-to-back home games on Saturday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Tip-off is at 6 p.m.
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