The Lions men’s and women’s basketball teams collapsed in their games against the Ryerson Rams last week. Ryerson’s teams are both ranked among the very best in the country, which may partially explain why the Lions men’s team was dominated 104-69 and the women’s team fell 99-61.
Having already lost to the UofT Varsity Blues in their first games of 2016, the Lions have now suffered four straight defeats at the hands of their cross-town rivals so far this year. But they’re not letting that allow their dreams of making the playoffs slip away.
“I’m pretty confident that our team will get things on track over the final few weeks heading into the playoff race,” says Shane Reader, one of the Lions’ leading guards.
“We should be able to make a little noise in the playoffs too.”
Ishanaa Seupersadsingh, a guard for the women’s team, feels the same way. “I am still optimistic that my team has a chance at the playoffs,” she says. “We often get discouraged when other teams are scoring a lot and we aren’t, but basketball is a game of runs and if we want it more we can compete with any team.”
The women’s team couldn’t stop the barrage of buckets that rained down at their own end of the court throughout the game. Seupersadsingh nevertheless, played an outstanding game, scoring an impressive 22 points. However, it wasn’t enough to keep the Rams from taking a victory by nearly 40 points.
“I wasn’t surprised when we kept up with Ryerson for the first two quarters of the game we played Wednesday night,” says Seupersadsingh. “They are a tough team and they are ranked number two in the country, but that didn’t scare us. We fought hard and found many ways to score against them with contribution from the whole team. They went on many more runs than we did and eventually their lead increased over us.”
Meanwhile, the men’s squad fell to the Rams by a margin of 35 points. After a tough first quarter, the Lions’ offence completely collapsed, giving the Rams the opportunity to not just win, but dominate the game. The Lions’ record fell to 3-6 after this loss, putting them in third place in the Ontario University Athletics rankings.
The men’s team is strong offensively, but struggles on defence, which is what may allow an opponent like the Rams to take a nearly 40-point lead over the Lions. “Our team has no problem scoring the ball,” says Reader. “We have a lot of guys that can really fill it up. We have a couple of 40-point quarters on the season, but we’ve also given up a couple so I would definitely say our defensive effort should be a lot better than it has been.”
For the women’s team, it’s the opposite. “We are very solid defensively,” says Seupersadsingh, “and over the season we have learned how to work together as a team to improve offensively and it has been helping us in terms of scoring. Communication and having confidence is key and this is what will help us in mastering our offence.”
Ultimately, the Lions really have to work on the attitude they carry with them when they’re on the court.
“I believe we lose momentum because our mindset might not be exactly where we need to it be,” says Seupersadsingh.
“Mentally we just need to be more focused and realize that until the fourth quarter, the game isn’t over.”
Hassam Munir, Sports and Health Editor
Featured image courtesy of York Lions
