Box Score It came down to the final minute as the No. 10 Varsity Blues women’s basketball team found themselves on the wrong side of a 71-67 decision versus the Carleton Ravens on Saturday night (Jan. 14) at the Athletic Centre Sports Gym.

The Ravens (8-4) rebounded after an 11-point loss to the Ryerson Rams on Friday to lift themselves into sole possession of second place. The Blues drop to 7-5 and sit tied with the Queen’s Gaels for third place in the OUA East.

“We battled pretty hard and showed a lot of fight and effort,” said Varsity Blues head coach Michele Belanger. “We had a couple of defensive breakdowns and our help was late getting there but we did a good job late in the game with a nice run.”

Down eight early in the fourth quarter, the Blues went on a 14-4 run to take back the lead (63-61) with 4:45 to go. The two teams battled to the finish, tying the game three more times before Carleton’s Alyson Bush drained a jump shot and drew the foul to put the Ravens up by three with 22 seconds remaining.

Sophomore guard Jill Stratton threw up a three in the final seconds but could not convert before the buzzer sounded.

Stratton (Etobicoke, Ont.) tallied a team-high 17 points, while adding five boards and three steals.  Varsity Blues player of the game Sherri Pierce of Brampton, Ont., added 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while both Joanna Medri (Toronto) and New Westminster, B.C., native Rachel Sider had 10 points in the loss.

The Blues jumped out to a 7-2 lead but the Ravens clawed their way back and a Kendall MacLeod layup with 1:05 remaining would even the score at 14-14 after the first quarter. 

U of T continued to surge ahead, with great efforts from Sider and Stratton, but Carleton remained close and Ashleigh Cleary’s jumper with 2:42 remaining in the half gave the visiting Ravens their first lead of the game.  A last second layup from MacLeod put Carleton up 36-35 heading into the locker room.

The Ravens went onto outscore Toronto 18-14 in the third to take a five-point lead into the fourth.

Clearly led all players with 22 points and 10 boards, while MacLeod added 13 points in the win.

The Varsity Blues have a quick turnaround as they host the Ryerson Rams this Wednesday, January 18 at the Athletic Centre Sports Gym.  Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m. The game will be streamed live on SSN Canada via varsityblues.ca. Advance tickets are on sale: click here or call 416-946-3811.

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