The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's basketball team opens their 2016-17 regular season this Saturday, November 5 as they travel to Waterloo to take on the Warriors at 1 p.m.
 
The Blues return home the following Friday, November 11 as they host the OUA defending champion Ryerson Rams in their 2016-17 home opener at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

Advance tickets are on sale here. U of T students are free with a valid T-Card. All OUA regular season and playoff basketball games will also be streamed live on OUA.tv.


 
The Blues, who went 8-11 and finished third in the OUA East division last year, are ready to make moves in 2016-17. With a balanced group, the Blues are confident they can make a push deep into the post season and earn a berth into the Final Four come March.
 
"We're looking at coming down and score a little quicker than we did last year and that all starts with our defensive intensity," said Michèle Bélanger, who enters her 38th season as Varsity Blues head coach. "We have some guards and forwards who can really get up there and pressure.  Our ability to pick up in the full court and cause problems for our opponents will assist us in forcing the other team to turn the ball over while setting up easy opportunities to score in transition, and we think we have the personnel to do that this year."
 
Toronto returns a solid veteran corps with 2015-16 OUA all-star Rahshida Atkinson leading the way. Atkinson topped the Blues and ranked seventh in the province averaging 15.6 points per game last year.
 
Keyira Parkes, a second-year guard from Scarborough, Ont., has had a breakout pre-season after earning OUA all-rookie team honours last season.
 
U of T is bolstered by fourth and fifth-year veterans Alanna Garner, Diedre Edwards and Emily Piccini, while sophomore Charlotte Collyer looks to step into a starter's role in 2016-17.


 
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