OTTAWA – The Ryerson Rams women's basketball season came to an end on Friday afternoon when the team fell short against the Calgary Dinos in the national consolation semifinal.

After an offensive first half that saw the teams deadlocked at 45-45 through 20 minutes, Calgary outlasted the Rams and pulled away in the second half to take an 87-64 win.

The Rams mustered just 19 points in the second half, while Calgary's persistence allowed them to score 42.

Ryerson had a strong start to the game, jumping out to a 10-3 lead just three minutes into the contest, forcing an early Dinos timeout. Calgary responded out of the break, scoring seven quick points to tie things up at 10-10. The high octane offence continued from both sides, and a Dinos three pointer from Erin McIntosh beat the buzzer to give Calgary a 28-22 advantage after ten minutes.

After using just six players in Thursday's quarter-final, Rams coach Carly Clarke was able to open up her bench on Friday and inserted Eleanor Jones (Ayr, Scotland) into the contest. It was Jones' first appearance of the season after rehabbing an injury, and she immediately injected some energy into the Rams' game.

"She (Jones) has been working hard to return from injury and was finally feeling good enough…and it was great to get a glimpse of what she can look like in the future," said Clarke.

Jones scored four points in the second quarter while playing some tight defence and forcing a pair of turnovers. Ryerson's energy led them to 23 points in the quarter to head into the halftime break square at 45-45.
 
In the third, Ryerson was first on the board with a pull up jumper from Hayley Robertson (Toronto) but it was all Calgary from there, as the Dinos went on an 11-0 run to take a 56-47 advantage. Ryerson came within six points when Sarai Bailey (Toronto) connected for a three-pointer but that was as close as the Rams would come. Calgary led 70-55 after three quarters.

Ryerson battled in the early stages of the fourth quarter and though they were putting points on the board they just couldn't hold off Calgary at the other end. The Dinos scored the final 11 points of the game to make the final score of 87-64 more of a lopsided affair than the game truly was.

"It's been a tremendous season. I don't know if I've ever had more injuries in one season – small or big – but those are things that happens sometimes. Nothing stopped this team and…they earned getting here and they deserved it, for sure," added Clarke.

With the end of the season came the end of the careers of Robertson, Bronwyn Wiliiams (Toronto) and Emma Fraser (Toronto) and coach Clarke had some special words about the graduating class.

"All three of them have left our culture and our team in a better place than when they arrived, which is a goal for all of our players. Those three in particular have been really easy to coach in that they're low maintenance, they do what is expected, they come and work hard every day, and they're great teammates. They will certainly be missed."

In her final game with the Rams, Robertson was named the player of the game, finishing with 20 points, five rebounds, five assists, and five steals while playing all 40 minutes.

With the off-season now upon every Rams team, stay tuned for updates on recruits and other news at ryersonrams.ca or on social media @ryersonrams.