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A spirited fourth-quarter rally fell short Friday night as the Queen’s Golden Gaels fell 69-60 to the Ryerson Rams in semifinal play at the Ontario University Athletics women’s basketball championship tournament in Windsor.

Though they scored 15 of the game’s last 20 points, and outscored the No. 7-ranked Rams 20-13 in the final period, the Gaels couldn’t advance to tomorrow’s championship game against Windsor, and they missed an opportunity to play in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport tournament for the second year in a row.

The defending champion Lancers qualified for the final with a 57-31 win over the Lakehead Thunderwolves. The host team will be seeking its sixth conference title in the last seven years.

The Gaels trailed 14-11 after the first quarter and 35-28 at halftime. Queen’s narrowed the gap to five points midway through the third quarter but Ryerson held the Gaels off the scoresheet for the final three and a half minutes of the period and took the lead to 16 points going into the final period.

"(Ryerson) had some good runs in the game that we really had some difficulty stopping," Gaels coach Dave Wilson said. "There were critical opportunites where they made hoops (and) we missed some opportunities that I thought could have changed that tide.

"I give (Ryerson) all the credit in the world. Their composure was outstanding, especially for a team that is as young as they are."

Queen’s shot less than 36 per cent from the field and was out-rebounded 53-38, including 33-14 under the Ryerson glass. It was Ryerson’s third-straight win over Queen’s this year.

The Gaels held Keneca Pinque-Giles, the 10th-leading scorer in the nation, to just eight points, almost 10 off her season per-game average, but Sophia Paska came off the bench to score 18 for the Rams.