TORONTO – The Ryerson Rams split their season series with the No. 8 Brock Badgers after picking up a win on Saturday night. Back in October of 2019, the Rams visited the Badgers in St. Catharines for their first road game of the season. The Rams would fall 68-58 but would come out victorious Saturday night on home court. This win ties the Rams with the Badgers for first in the central division. 

"We're obviously battling to try to win the division right now," said head coach Carly Clarke. "So, getting the split with them on the season was critical to that."

Bronwyn Williams (Toronto) won possession for the Rams off of the tip and got the first points of the game with a made layup. She would end with nine points, eight rebounds, and five assists. An offensive back-and-forth quarter would ensue, and the score would be tied at eight by the five-minute mark. The Badgers would eventually take the lead with a couple of made three-pointers by Jenneke Pilling and leading scorer Sam Keltos.  

Trailing by three, the Rams knew they could easily regain the lead in the second. After exchanging the lead, the Rams would get a solid advantage near the five-minute mark with an Emma Fraser (Toronto) jumper. The Rams would then go on a run, reaching a 10-point lead, with six of those points coming from Rachel Farwell (Rothesay, N.B.). The Badgers would continue to drain shots from beyond the arc as Keltos would get two more, and Jessica Morris would add one of her own. The Badgers had the chance to tie the game once again in the final second, but Keltos missed her shot and the Rams held on to a three-point lead, 41-39 at the half. 

"We made some adjustments at half time and we got smart players that are able to adjust to how things are going," said Clarke. "Our persistence and relentlessness show through and we wear some teams down with how aggressive we are." 

This was a good matchup as the lead often swayed in favour of whose shot would fall, as was evident in the first half, and continued throughout the third quarter. Marin Scotten (Ottawa, Ont.) would get a couple of threes, but the Badgers would continue draining their shots and tied the game 55-55 with one quarter left to play. Scotten would finish the game with a double-double netting 20 points and getting 10 rebounds. 

The fourth quarter was where the Rams truly separated themselves from the Badgers and showed why they are one of the top scoring teams in the country. They would make a total of six three-pointers, with Scotten, Farwell, and Stefanija Mrvaljevic (Mississauga, Ont.) all taking part. By the five-minute mark the Rams had acquired a 10-point lead. At the time, it was all about maintaining their pace, staying strong on defence, and draining easy shots. The Rams wore down the Badgers, who would only score 11 in this quarter, to win the game 81-66.

"We just wore them down, kept running on them in transition and kept moving the ball well, finding open shooters and we were knocking down shots," said Scotten. 

The Rams had four players reach double-digit points (Scotten, Farwell, Fraser, Hayley Robertson) and two get double-doubles (Scotten, Robertson).

"That speaks to our diversity and ways we can score as a team," said Farwell. "We have our shooters, we have our bigs that are really talented, we have a lot of people that are slashers, that dive to the rim and finished strong there. However a team chooses to pack us defensively, we have an answer for them."

The Rams next head on the road for their final road trip of the regular season. The Rams head to Guelph to face the Gryphons on Wednesday, February 5 at 6:00 p.m. ET. Then, they fly to Sault Ste. Marie to face the Algoma Thunderbirds on Sunday, February 9 for a 1:00 p.m. ET tip. Watch both games live on OUA.tv.