Box Score The Varsity Blues women's basketball team dropped a narrow 74-66 decision to the No. 9 Queen's Gaels on Saturday night (Jan. 20) at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

In the 11th annual Think Pink game, the Blues offence started off slow, but gained speed as time went on. They found themselves down by 10 points (19-9) after the first 10 minutes. The early deficit was too much for the team to overcome even though Toronto outscored Queen's 57-55 the rest of the way.

Keyira Parkes continued her impressive play since coming back from injury. She recorded a team-high 19 points and grabbed five rebounds on the night. The Scarborough, Ont., native is averaging 18.8 points in her last five contests. Diedre Edwards was the next highest scorer for the Blues, putting up 12 points.

Marianne Alarie drained a game-high 20 points for the Gaels. It marked the fifth time the fourth-year student recorded at least 20 points this season. Sophie de Goede scored 15 points off the bench.

The Varsity Blues record falls to 5-11, while Queen's improves to 13-3 on the season.

From tip off the Blues defence brought the pressure, forcing six turnovers, and got under the skin of the Gaels. Four different Blues scored in the opening quarter, but they were down 19-9.

Coming off a 21-point performance last night against York, Parkes started to use her speed and agility to get to the rack. The third-year student drained 10 points in the second quarter and the rest of the Blues followed suit. The team dropped a total of 25 points in the quarter against the province's second best defence. Queen's still led 43-34 at halftime.

Toronto came out flying in the second half. They started on a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to only four points; however, Queen's offence responded late in the quarter, nailing a pair of three-pointers to extend their advantage to 58-50 heading into the final 10 minutes.

The Blues defence was outstanding in the second half, holding the Gaels to 28.1% from the field. Ultimately, they couldn't dig themselves out of the early hole. 

U of T is back in action on Friday, January 26 when they battle the first of two Ottawa based teams. Up first is the No. 1 Carleton Ravens (16-0) at Goldring Centre. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. 

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