TORONTO – The Ryerson Rams hosted downtown rivals, the Toronto Varsity Blues, for the Battle For the 6ix Wednesday evening. The Rams came out victorious with a strong second half that helped them gain a 75-56 win.

The Rams came out strong against the Varsity Blues in the first quarter, keeping them scoreless up until the five-minute mark. Bronwyn Williams (Toronto) would get the first points for the Rams with a fade away that appears to be her signature move this season. Rachel Farwell (Rothesay, N.B.) would follow that up with a three-pointer. The Rams gave up six fouls this quarter which gave the Varsity Blues' unnecessary opportunities to score, which they capitalized on. The quarter would end with the Varsity Blues up by two.

"I just thought we were sluggish and not our best defensively early on," said head coach Carly Clarke. "U of T capitalized on that for sure."

The Varsity Blues would continue to lead in the beginning of the second getting to 14-10 before the Rams would answer. The Rams would eventually tie the score and the game would go back-and-forth for a couple of minutes. The Varsity Blues would show good defence in the paint, forcing the Rams to shoot from outside and getting offensive rebounds. The score would be tied 20-20 at the halfway point but the Rams would take the lead afterwards. The pace would change in favour of the Rams towards the end of the half as they would lead 34-28. 

"I think the second half was a lot better than the first," said Marin Scotten (Ottawa, Ont.). "We wanted to have a really good start to the third quarter and I thought we moved the ball really well and we didn't force any shots, just made shots we knew we could make."

The Varsity Blues would cut the lead to one early on in the third quarter, but a couple of three's from Jama Bin-Edward (Waterloo, Ont.) and Emma Fraser (Toronto) would increase the lead to 10 at the five-minute mark. The Rams would make a stellar play near the seven-minute mark as Hayley Robertson (Toronto) would send a cross-court pass to Scotten for a corner three. The Rams would end the third with a 15-point lead. 

By the fourth quarter the Varsity Blues looked defeated. Their shots were not going through and their defence collapsed. On the other hand, the Rams' offensive pressure would continue with back-to-back threes from Farwell who finished 13 points and Scotten who led the team with 22 points. The Rams would take the Battle For the 6ix, 75-56.

"I thought we got the ball moving on offence, found some shooters and made some shots which allowed us to get a bit of rhythm and energy but I would like us to be able to do that defensively without having to rely on the offence," said Clarke.

The Rams close out the calendar year on the road against the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday, November 30th at 1:00 pm ET. Watch the game live on OUA.tv.