The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's basketball team dropped a hard fought 72-67 showdown versus the Brock Badgers on Friday (Oct. 24) night.

Traveling to St. Catharines for their regular season opener, the Blues were able to keep pace with one of the top teams in the OUA a season ago. Following a slow first half which saw U of T trailing 32-21 at the break, the Blues eventually found their rhythm in the second half to draw within two points of the Badgers by the final two minutes.

Toronto utilized tenacious defensive pressure, scoring 23 points off turnovers, while also limiting the Badgers to just 17 percent shooting from behind the three-point line. Outscoring Brock by six points in the second half, the third and fourth quarter surge would come up just short on the road.

Delivering an impressive performance in the paint for Toronto, second-year centre Zi Wang tallied a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds in 19 minutes of action off the bench. Wang was efficient shooting 7-for-10 from the floor, while also effecting second chance opportunities with eight of her 11 rebounds coming from the offensive glass.

Four Blues in total would reach double-digits displaying the full team effort. Second-year guards Lia Barbieri and Diana Comsa scored 12 and 11, while third-year guard Faith Joseph added 10. Joseph was also a big part of the Blues stellar defensive pressure, registering a team-high four steals.

Brock was led by back-to-back OUA MVP Madalyn Weinert. The fifth-year wing notched a game-high 30 points, adding 16 rebounds, six steals, five blocks, and two assists. Third-year guard Shailah Adams was the only other Badger to reach double-digits, scoring 15 off the bench.

The difficult road weekend continues for the Blues next heading to Hamilton to challenge the McMaster Marauders. Another top team from the OUA Central division, U of T will tip-off from McMaster at 6 p.m. tomorrow (Oct. 25) night. The game will be streamed live on oua.tv.