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The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's basketball team opened the New Year with a 74-71 victory over the No. 8 Ryerson Rams on Wednesday night (Jan. 7) at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

With the win, the Blues improve to 5-4 and remain in second place in the East division, while the Rams drop to 6-3 and stay in first place.

The game marked the first of four in the Toronto/Ryerson BIA Cup series. The Harbord Street Business Improvement Area (BIA) partnered with the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA), which represents 78 local BIAs and over 35,000 local businesses, to foster a cross-town basketball rivalry between U of T and Ryerson by creating the BIA Cup.

The series will culminate on February 11 when Ryerson hosts Toronto and Mattamy Athletic Centre. The points from all four games will be accumulated to determine the winner of the Cup.

Playing in her 100th career game in the Blue and White (regular season & playoffs), fifth-year guard Jill Stratton of Etobicoke, Ont., notched a team-high 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while fellow veteran Jasmine Lewin had 14 points, eight boards and three assists on the night.

Julie Longauer also hit double digits with 11 points, with Rahshida Atkinson, Emily Piccini and Liane Bailey all adding seven in the win.

The Blues got out to a 7-2 lead, thanks to five early points from Lewin, but the Rams battled back and despite a late jumper, Toronto held an 11-10 lead after the first quarter.

U of T opened the second frame on a 13-3 run and continued to dominate, building upwards of a 20-point advantage. Ryerson mounted a small come back, but U of T took a 37-24 lead into halftime.

Both teams traded points in the third quarter with the Rams holding Toronto to 13 points in the frame. A couple of Sophia Paska free throws and a Katherine Follis jumper brought Ryerson within four (50-46) heading into the final frame.  

The Rams continued to close the gap but some great work from Longauer and Atkinson kept the Blues on top. Ryerson did bring the game within one (64-63) after four consecutive points off turnovers but Bailey made it a two possession game with 31 seconds remaining, draining the layup and one at the shot clock buzzer.  

Keneca Pingue-Giles led all players with 23 points and six steals, while Chloe Mago had 16 points and Mariah Nunes notched 10 in the loss.

The Varsity Blues return to the court next Saturday, January 17 as they travel to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., to take on the Algoma Thunderbirds. Game time is set for 6 p.m. 

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