Women’s Basketball
WBB: Call them the Bronze Gaels – Queen’s downs Brock to win first U SPORTS medal in program history
KINGSTON, Ont. – The Rams are national champions! They defeated the Winnipeg Wesmen 70-48 in the gold medal Game to win the U SPORTS Women’s Final 8 for the first time in their program history. The top-seeded Rams jumped out to a 10-point lead and never looked back as they capped their undefeated season by hoisting the Bronze Baby trophy.
Four players scored in double figures for the Rams in their championship win, with Rachel Farwell leading the way with 17 points. Mikaela Dodig added 13 while Jama Bin-Edward and Eve Uwayesu, coming off the bench, chipped in with 12 each. Eleanor Jones had a game-high 12 rebounds for the Rams.
Bin-Edward said the championship was a perfect finish to her time with the Rams.
“I just pictured throughout my entire year, all my five years here, this is the moment that I wanted,” the senior forward said. It just came to the perfect ending of my career and I couldn’t be any happier.”
Bin-Edward was named the tournament most valuable player and a tournament all-star.
“I just play. I don’t really look at the scoreboard really ever, and I was pretty shocked that I got tournament MVP,” the Waterloo native, who is majoring in Politics and Governance, added.
The Rams outshot the Wesmen, finishing the game 40 per cent from the floor and 42.4 per cent from three-point range, while holding Winnipeg to just 29.5 per cent shooting from the floor and five per cent from three-point range.
Rams head coach Carly Clarke, who was named the U SPORTS Coach of the Year earlier this week, said she was extremely happy to see her team get to hoist the Bronze Baby trophy.
“Pure joy, for sure,” Clarke said. “Obviously we’ve been working at this as a program for a while but this group of players in particular has been really special. They’ve been through a lot, so it means a lot for them to get this moment.”
For the Wesmen, who go home with their first national silver medal since 2005, Kyanna Giles and Faith Hezekiah led the way, finishing with 13 points each while Keylyn Filewich added 10.
Nike Top Performers
Rams: Rachel Farwell
Winnipeg Wesmen: Kyanna Giles
CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS
Championship MVP: Jama Bin-Edward, Rams
Championship All-Star Team
Emma Ritcey, Queen’s
Faith Hezekiah, Winnipeg
Keylyn Filewich, Winnipeg
Mikaela Dodig, Rams
Jama Bin-Edward, Rams