TORONTO – The Rams were in St. Catharines on Saturday night to face off against rivals the Brock Badgers. A second half offensive click from the Badgers would give them the 68-58 win, their first win against the Rams in six years.

The Badgers would get on the board first but not for long as third-year guard Stefanija Mrvaljevic (Mississauga, Ont.) made a deep jumper to tie up the game early. Marin Scotten (Ottawa, Ont.) would follow up with a three, continuing her success from behind the arc. A lot of back and forth would ensue between both teams. The Badgers proved to be a tougher opponent than York was a couple days ago. Brock was able to find the holes in the Rams offence, while creating turnovers, making it a close game. The Rams would end the first with a one-point lead, 19-18.

Ryerson would seem to find their rhythm more in the second as they got on the board first and tightened up on defence. The Badgers would not go away easily though and continued to test the Rams and made this game interesting.  The second quarter would turn into more of a defensive and rebounding battle with both teams having trouble getting their shots to fall through the net. The Rams would maintain their one-point lead at the end of the second, leading 33-32.

The third would start off in favour of the Rams as they won the defensive battle and got their own rebounds. However, a couple of Rams turnovers would give the Badgers the opportunity to get the lead and maintain it. Halfway into the quarter forward Jama Bin-Edward (Waterloo, Ont.) would have a great play on both ends of the court, causing a turnover and then finishing with a jump shot but Brock would get lead shortly after. With four minutes left in the quarter the Badgers would lead by five as they continued outscoring the Rams. Scotten would get another late three but the Rams would still trail 50-48 at the end of ten minutes.

The Badgers would continue to rise in the last quarter while the Rams would decline. The Badgers would overpower the Rams both offensively and defensively as the Rams just could not connect for a basket. Badgers centre Samantha Keltos and point guard Melissa Tatti would come up big for their team as they would lead by six with five minutes left in the game. They would add 12 points to the Rams' eight and would take the game 68-58. This is a tough loss for the Rams who dominated against York in their home opener. On the other hand, the Badgers get their home opener win, and beat the Rams for the first time since 2013. 

Ryerson is back at home next week for a two-game series against the Lakehead Thunderwolves which starts on Friday, November 1st at 6:00 p.m. ET at Coca-Cola Court.