Faced with an electric atmosphere and two upset-happy opponents, the women’s basketball team continued to deliver what their fans expect: wins. Friday night’s 60-45 home court victory over Ryerson clinched a berth for the Blues (19-4, 2002 OUA Champion) at next weekend’s CIS championships in Hamilton for the first time since 1997.
Sunday, they defeated Brock (15-9, OUA West champion), 69-66, for the conference crown. The wins extend Toronto’s overall winning streak to 11 games and bring their home record to a perfect 13-0 following Thursday night’s 75-69 East semifinal win over Queen’s.
“I think it’s just the motivation of going to nationals,” said Toronto’s Jacquie Armour on the team’s energy. “Tonight it was like ‘This is ours, we gotta go [to nationals].'”
The Blues used a stifling defence to hound the Rams (12-10) into 28% shooting from the field (19 for 67), including a 1 for 12 performance from beyond the arc. Despite poor free throw shooting (11 for 24, 46%) and more turnovers (20 to 16) than their opponents, a 47-30 rebounding advantage helped the Blues make 24 of 58 (41%) shots from the field. The 2002 OUA champions seized control of the contest early, delighting the crowd of 414 with a game-opening 9-0 run. Ryerson won temporary relief by calling timeout with 16:26 left. But after the Rams scored the game’s next four points, the Blues fired back with a 13-3 run to take a comfortable 22-9 lead with 6:29 to go in the half.
“We wanted them to really come out like gangbusters,” said coach Michelle Belanger. “
Toronto overcame a group of confident visitors who had defeated the top-seeded Laurentian Lady Voyageurs on Thursday. But the presence of Toronto post players Armour (15 points, 10 rebounds) and 2001-02 OUA East Rookie of the Year Paula Romkey (16 points, 5 rebounds) was a foreseeable advantage for the Blues. “You really don’t know what they’re going to throw at you, because they’re so athletic,” said Belanger of the Rams. “I thought we matched up better with Ryerson. They don’t have much of a post game and our post game is pretty tough. They played relentless defence last night [against Laurentian], so I was a bit concerned about their pressure defensively.”
2001-02 OUA All-Stars Holly Pagnan (16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 turnovers, 4 steals) and Vanessa Richardson (6 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists) added to the well-balanced attack. “We wanted to make sure it was a good team effort,” said Belanger.
“Our strength is anybody can score on any given night. We don’t have just one scorer.” Ryerson’s Tamara Alleyne-Gittens, their lone OUA All-Star, was absent from the lineup, putting a heavy scoring burden on the starting backcourt of Kathy-Ann Grizzle (6 points, 5 fouls, 3 turnovers) and Karina Navarro (10 points, 5 rebounds). They combined for one assist. Jen Schinnour (10 points, 8 rebounds) did a respectable job of filling the void left by Alleyne-Gittens. She is a big part of their game. She scores a lot in the post,” said Belanger of the absence. The fourth-seeded Badgers defeated top seed Western 74-72 on Thursday and then trounced second-seeded McMaster 73-47 Friday to advance to Sunday’s final. U of T will play their first game at Nationals on Thursday, March 7.
Photographs by Simon Turnbull
