Memories of an embarrassing loss and a group of confident players turned out to be the perfect recipe for the women’s basketball team against Ryerson Friday night. The Blues came ready to play with the sting of a late November loss to the Rams in their minds and rolled to an impressive 78-58 win in front of over 100 fans at the Athletic Centre.

“The first game against Ryerson, we didn’t do a good job of getting the ball inside,” said coach Michelle Belanger of the earlier 66-65 loss. “Today I felt we had a good inside-outside game…They [our post people] worked a lot harder to get position inside.”

Toronto managed the decisive margin without playmaker Elanna Robson, who is out indefinitely. Rookie Paula Romkey (game highs of 22 points, 13 rebounds) spearheaded the victory by leading four Toronto players scoring in double figures.

“Paula’s been doing that for us every single game…when we get her the ball, she can score,” added Belanger.

U of T responded to a bucket by Ryerson’s Tamara Alleyne-Gittens to open the game with nine unanswered points and never trailed thereafter. At halftime the Blues led 39-30 and the Rams never got closer than eight points the rest of the way. Romkey’s defensive effort on Alleyne-Gittens (10 points), who scorched the Blues for 20 points in the earlier game, also helped seal the win.

“I knew that right from the start I had to watch my fouls,” said Romkey, referring to the foul trouble she encountered in the first game. “All I had to do was keep myself in the game, because I knew I had the confidence to play against her.”

The Blues (8-3, 2nd OUA East) stayed on the heels of first place Laurentian (11-0) and remained on course for an all-important home rematch against the Voyageurs on February 16 (73-70L @Laurentian on January 11). The win puts the Blues (3-0 at home) two full games ahead of third place Ryerson (6-5) and atones for what was considered a lacklustre performance in the teams’ first matchup.

“It was a pride issue. They really embarrassed us the last time we played them, so from the start I had to be mentally focused,” said Romkey. Holly Pagnan and Vanessa Nobrega led a solid backcourt performance (combined 9 assists, 4 turnovers) and chipped in offensively, scoring 12 points each. Forward Vanessa Richardson also had a strong outing, finishing with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists while draining both of her three-point attempts and going a perfect 6 for 6 at the free throw line. Lesser-used rookies Kristen Cullen and Lina Jaglowitz played important minutes, giving the regulars some rest throughout.

McMaster (8-1, 2nd OUA West) on Friday and Lakehead (1-8, 8th OUA West) on Saturday before returning to play their final seven games at home starting with Ottawa on February 1st.