TORONTO – The Ryerson Rams hosted the Nipissing Lakers for their second last game of the regular season on Friday night and a dominant performance by the Rams gave them an 88-48 win.

This was head coach Carly Clarke's first game back with the Rams, after being away with the Canadian National Team, clinching a sport in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

The Rams started the game on a high note. Despite not making their first bucket, the Rams would bounce back and shoot 57 per cent from beyond the arc in the first quarter. The Lakers would get the first three of the game from Maria Walsh, but it would be all Rams after that. The Rams had three players shoot threes in the first alone, starting off with Rachel Farwell (Rothesay, N.B.), then Marin Scotten (Ottawa, Ont.), and Emma Fraser (Toronto). Although, Fraser's three would later be called a deep jumper, a questionable call by the officials. 

"Marin and Rachel were keyed on today," said Clarke. "We did a great job of finding them in the right moments and they kept knocking them down."

Fraser would get a three added to her name in the second to start off the scoring for the Rams. Three minutes into the quarter the Rams were up by 15 points. They would then go on a 9-0 run which included some great defence. Sarai Bailey (Toronto) would record a steal and a layup and Bronwyn Williams (Toronto) would get a hand on a Lakers' pass and tip it straight into the waiting arms of Taite Cleland (Ancaster, Ont.) who would also record a steal later on. The Lakers were only able to get nine points in the second, meanwhile, Williams racked up 14 points and nine rebounds. 

"We were all in our zone today," said Williams. "We were all looking for each other and looking for the mismatches and it turned out well." 

The Rams continued to dominate in the second half. The Rams would go 12-7 in the first five minutes including another quarter-opening three by Fraser, who would finish with 17 points and four rebounds, and a follow up by Scotten who would post nine points and 10 rebounds. The Rams led by 31 points at the five-minute mark of the frame and would then go 10-5 to finish with an added six points in their lead.

"We applied some good pressure," said Clarke. "We try to work on some things as a team, overall we did a pretty good job and forced them into some tough shots." 

Fraser would open the scoring once again for the Rams with a jumper, but it was the Lakers who came out with some fire early in the fourth as Megan McCarter shot two three-pointers. The Lakers would get their most points in the fourth with 16 but, the Rams would outscore them once again.

Bailey had an eventful last couple of minutes getting two of her four steals in back-to-back plays. After the first steal, Bailey could have easily gone for the layup, but she chose to pass it to fellow first year Ayden Kristmanson (Whistler, B.C.) for her second career OUA points in a heartwarming display of sportsmanship and camaraderie by the teammates on Valentine's Day. The Rams would take this one with a 40-point lead.

"I thought Sarai could have scored, so I'm naturally like 'okay, great'," said Clarke. "But Ayden's been working really hard so, she's earned that and I'm really happy for her to get some good minutes today." 

The Rams are back in action on Saturday, February 15 against the Laurentian Voyageurs for an important final game of the regular season and senior night. Tip off is at 6:00 p.m. ET and can be streamed on OUA.tv.