In OUA basketball action, the Varsity Blues women’s team had no answer for Queen’s Katie Guthrie of Orillia, Ont., who tallied 23 points helping the host Gaels hand Toronto their first loss of the new year on Friday, January 8 in Kingston, Ont.

The 68-50 loss is the Blues (4-7) fifth straight, while the win helped the Gaels (7-4) secure their fourth straight regular-season victory. Queen’s is currently tied with Ryerson and Carleton for first place of the OUA East with 14 points.

Toronto native Nicki Schutz led the way for the Blues with 16 points. She was 6-for-18 from the floor and also tallied a game-high 12 rebounds. Erin McNeely of Kingston, Ont. added 10 points in the loss.

Guthrie was sharp, making 7-of-9 free-throws and was 3-for-5 from behind the three point line. Erin Skippon of Kelowna, B.C. recorded 14 points along with 10 rebounds while Brittany Moore of Hannon, Ont. scored 10.

Schutz leads the CIS scoring race with 207 points, while Moore now sits in fourth place, 37 points off the pace. The Blues third-year forward is also amongst the country’s rebounding leaders with 10.7 boards per game.

Tied at 26 apiece heading into halftime, the Gaels exploded for 26 points in the third to pull away from Toronto to claim the victory. The Blues fell behind 52-38 heading into the final quarter and never got closer than 10 points throughout the remainder of the game.

The Varsity Blues remain in Kingston overnight and get ready to face the RMC Paladins tomorrow afternoon. It is an unusually quick turnaround for Toronto as they’ll get set to tip off at 1 p.m.

For more information, scores and highlights on your favourite Toronto teams, please visit the home of the Varsity Blues at http://www.varsityblues.ca.