Canadian Interuniversity Sport – FREDERICTON (CIS) –Keneca Pingue-Giles, with 20 points, Mariah Nunes with 20, and Silvana Jez with 16, combined for most of the Ryerson University Rams offence, and had 18 of the team’s 33 rebounds, as the Rams upset the top ranked McGill Martlets in the second semi-final of the 2016 ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS Women’s Basketball Championship. McGill trailed 45-28 at half, and just could not keep up with the triple threats of the fifth seeded Rams. Ryerson Rams now advance to the finals, thanks to the 87-72 final score.

CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE:http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wbkb/index

Rams coach Carly Clarke was pleased with her team’s game management. “We wanted to play with this tempo, and we set a good pace with rebounding off the boards, and defensive quickness to steal the ball,” she said. Her coaching strategy worked, as the Rams forced 18 turnovers and scored 30 more points against McGill than the Martlets had allowed all year.

Still Clark had great respect for McGill. “They’re a great team. They were a tough challenge,” she said.

Ryerson University has never won a medal in woman’s basketball, so the history of the moment was not lost on Clarke. “It means so much to the players, to the team, and the university administration and the community. I feel lucky to be part of this kind of success.”

Silvana Jez, who had 16 points and six rebounds, was emotional about the win. “It’s hard to speak, right now,” she said. “We have been building and building, getting stronger year after year. Last year we had players with not too much experience at this level. This year, we bring a lot more versatility. I’m really glad to be here, now.”
The Ryerson Rams will meet the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in Sunday’s final at, at 1:00PM Atlantic. The Huskies defeated Saint Mary’s University 65-58, to earn the other spot in the national women’s basketball final.

While the emotions were high for the Ryerson team, the

McGill players and coach were not happy. The Martlets’ player of the game, Jennifer Silver, scored 21 points in a losing cause. “I’m disappointed,” said Silver. “We didn’t do the little things that we were prepared to do, we didn’t execute, and we got hurt on the things we were trying to avoid.”

Silver, who is in her last year and has aspirations to get into medical school, said the team was excited to be in the national championship tournament, but wanted to win it too.

McGill coach Ryan Thorne was also disappointed. “We lost some tough battles in the first half,” he said. “The little things hurt us, and we did not execute or made some mistakes and Ryerson exploited them.”

McGill will play one more game, the bronze medal game, against Saint Mary’s, on Sunday at 10:00AM Atlantic. “We came here to represent the university,” said Thorne. “We have a chance to play for a medal, and we are going to play hard for a win.”

STATS LEADERS

Official Boxscore: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wbkb/2016/boxscores_champ/20160319_jsn1.xml
RYE  23-22-23-19  87
McG  14-14-20-24  72

  Ryerson
Points: KenecaPingue-Giles (20), Mariah Nunes (20) Silvana Jez (16).
Rebounds: Keneca Pingue-Giles (8), Sofia Paska (7), Silvana Jez (60).
Assists: Keneca Pingue-Giles (7)
  Player of the game: Silvana Jez

  McGill
Points: Jennifer Silver (21), Gabriela Hebert (14), Alex Kiss-Rusk (10), Mariam Sylla (10).
Rebounds: Gabriela Hebert (6)
Assists: Dianna Ros (6)
  Player of the game: Jennifer Silver

  SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times ATLANTIC)
 

Thursday, March 17
13:00 Quarter-final 1: No. 7 Ottawa  62 vs. No. 2 Saskatchewan  73
15:00 Quarter-final 2: No. 6 Alberta  52 vs. No. 3 Saint Mary’s  53 
18:00 Quarter-final 3: No. 8 UNB 52 vs. No. 1 McGill  58
20:00 Quarter-final 4: No. 5 Ryerson 73 vs. No. 4 Regina 70 
   

Friday, March 18
18:00 Consolation 1: Ottawa 60 vs. Alberta 69
20:00 Consolation 2: UNB  56 vs. Regina 68
 

Saturday, March 19
12:00 Semifinal 1: Saskatchewan65 vs.Saint Mary’s 58
14:30 Semifinal 2: McGill 72 vs. Ryerson 87
17:00 5th-place game (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
 

Sunday, March 20
10:00 Bronze (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
13:00 Final (Sportsnet 360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *

  About Canadian Interuniversity Sport

  Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, over 12,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 56 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:   Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CIS_SIC Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cissports YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/universitysport Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/CIS_SIC
  For further information, please contact:

Andy Campbell
University of New Brunswick
T: 506-451-6894
C: 506-470-5578
E:andy.campbell@unb.ca

  Michel Bélanger        
Communications & Media Relations
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
T: 613-562-5670 ext. 25
C: 613-447-6334
E: belanger@universitysport.ca