Box Score Saturday night marked the final game of a four-game road trip for the McMaster women's basketball team and they'll be heading home having split those games after defeating the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in a convincing 71-47 victory.
 
The matchup with the varsity Blues is always a homecoming for Marauders head coach Theresa Burns, who returned to her alma mater to take on her former coach, Michele Belanger, who is in her 39^th season.
 
The opening quarter was a game of treys as the Marauders kicked into high gear from beyond the arc in the early minutes of the quarter, building a 22-11 lead after 10 minutes.
 
Throughout the course of the game, the Marauders stuck to their game-plan of launching from the three-point line, which allowed them to spread the floor against the Blues.
 
As a result of the Marauders early advantage, McMaster head coach Theresa Burns was able to share minutes, allowing many of her bench players to continue the pace and put up some solid numbers in the victory.
 
Through four quarters, the Marauders managed to outscore Toronto in each of them as the Varsity Blues would struggle to get any element of their offence going to give them a spark of momentum.
 
McMaster rookie Sarah Gates managed to excel for McMaster as she would come off the bench and lead the Marauders with a career-high 16 points on the night on five of nine shooting from the field. Perhaps the most impressive part of her stat line from the night was her completing 75% of her three-point shot attempts.  Jelena Mamic added 11, with Linnaea Harper and Lexie Spadafora each scoring 10.
 
With the win, McMaster improves to 3-2 on the season. The Marauders will host Laurentian on Friday, November 17, followed by a matchup against Nipissing the following night, also in the Burridge Gym.  Tip-off both nights is at 6-pm.
 
By Ethan Ready