TORONTO - The undefeated Rams women's basketball team is back in action this Wednesday, February 9, for the first time since their convincing 71-62 win over the No. 10 Queen's Gaels on December 4, 2021. 

"It truly feels great to be back," says Rams head coach Carly Clarke who spoke about the difficulty of the most recent COVID-19 pause and lockdowns. "I think the last pause was the hardest one of all for a lot of us."

When looking back at the first half of their season, the Rams found victories in all six of their OUA games and even remained undefeated all throughout the pre-season. With two wins against each the Nipissing Lakers, Ontario Tech Ridgebacks, and the strong Gaels, the Rams not only won these games but found ways to improve throughout the campaign, voices Clarke.

"We were definitely pleased with our first half of the season, both in our results, and more importantly our growth and improvement through the first half - which I thought really showed in our final win over Queen's before the exam break."

A large contributor to their early success has been their dominance on the defensive end, with the Rams allowing an OUA-low of just 49 points per game, with their opponents shooting an OUA-low of just 18% from three-point range against them, and with the Rams having the second highest steals per game average (over 12) in the league. 

"The emphasis on defence by our coaches and our team culture is the reason for this. It is something we work on consistently and take pride in," says Rams veteran point guard Mikaela Dodig, who leads the OUA in minutes played during her first season in the conference. 

With an important next few months ahead for the fifth-year leader, Dodig revealed the mindset going into 2022. 

"Our team's focus has always been to keep getting better everyday. We've been focusing on what we can control, competing everyday and upholding a championship mindset in everything we do."

On top of the regularly scheduled games against the York Lions and the Toronto Varsity Blues in February, the OUA will be adding more games back into the schedule as championship dates have been pushed back.

Without looking too far ahead, the Rams are clearly a team with championship ambitions and have expressed the significance of playing their best in the postseason. 

"It is unrealistic after a two month stoppage to think we will just pick up where we left off; our focus will be on playing our best basketball of the season by the time playoffs roll around," shares Clarke.

The Rams will welcome York this Wednesday to the Mattamy Athletic Centre with tip-off at 6 p.m. Tickets are available now - all Ryerson students are free when they use the promo code 'RAMS'.

Following Wednesday's tilt, the Rams will head to York for a rematch with the Lions on Saturday afternoon.