Michele Belanger’s Varsity Blues are set for a cross-town battle with Bill Pangos’ sixth-seeded York Lions in OUA East women’s basketball quarter-final action this Wednesday, February 22 at the Athletic Centre Sports Gym.

Tip off is set for 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on SSN Canada via varsityblues.ca. U of T students are FREE and advance tickets are on sale now: click here or call 416-946-3811.

Belanger enters her 126th post-season game as Blues head coach. U of T has made the playoffs 32 times, winning nine provincial and one national title, in the past 33 years under Belanger’s tutelage.  The Blues bench boss has been named OUA coach of the year eight times, most recently earning the honour last season (2010-11).

Toronto finished the regular season in third place in the East with a 14-8 record.  The Blues went 7-2 after the December exam break, before ending the regular season with a 2-3 drought over their last five games.

The Blues swept the season series with the Lions, defeating their Toronto counterparts 77-64 on the road on Jan. 21 before coming away with a lopsided 58-27 win at home on Feb. 11. 

U of T will rely on sophomore and fifth-year guards Jill Stratton and Sherri Pierce this Wednesday night. 

A 2011 CIS all-rookie team member, Stratton (Etobicoke, Ont.) led the Blues and ranked sixth in the OUA with 14.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, while Pierce of Brampton, Ont., averaged 12.1 points per game.  Pierce ended the regular season with a career-high 27-point performance versus the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Saturday night.

The Lions (8-14) finished the season in sixth place in the East.  York had a tough second-half schedule, going 4-10 since January. 

Pangos guided the Lions to the team's first OUA championship since 1982 in 2006-07 and earned his third consecutive OUA East coach of the year award that same year, making him a five-time winner of the honour.

Brittany Szockyj led the Lions with 12.3 points per game during the regular season, with Llyandra Kerr averaging 10 points and a team-high 9.5 rebounds per game as well.  Nadia Qahwash is also a player to watch after tallying 10.4 points per game over 14 games this season.

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