PETERBOROUGH, Ont. (November 7, 2010) - The Queen's Gaels finished fifth in their first ever appearance at the CIS Women's Rugby Championship earning a dominant 53-5 win over host Trent University in the final day of play.

Already up 10-0 at halftime, the OUA finalist Gaels exploded for 43 points after the break, including two tries apiece for Melanie Weiss of Silver Valley, Alta., Karlye Wong and Jocelyn Poirier, both of Ottawa.

Queen's dominated the first half while Trent defendeddeep in their own end. Ash Ward of Barrie, Ont., charged the ball from a five-metre scrum to notch the first points at the 20 minute mark for the Gaels, and Taylor White of Bancroft, Ont., touched the ball down on a similar play with three minutes left to complete the opening half scoring.

In the second period, Andrea Wadsworth of Toronto and Susan Heald of Burlington, Ont., had single tries to go with Weiss, Wong and Poirier's scores. Annika Rinas of Oakville, Ont., added three converts, while Rachelle Kranenburg of Lucknow, Ont., had one. Lauren Wizowski of Lindsay, Ont., tallied Trent's lone try late in the game.

Players of the match were Heald for Queen's and Whitney Black of Belleville, Ont., for Trent.

Gaels head coach Beth Barz was pleased that her fourth and fifth-year players could end their careers on such a strong note.

The Gaels close out the season with an overall 8-3 record including a perfect 5-0 regular season.

In the OUA playoffs, the Gaels rattled off two victories before meeting the Guelph Gryphons which at the time had only surrendered seven points all season long. In the final, Queen's lost 54-5 picking up the silver medal - which equaled the school's best result since 1995.

At the CIS Championship, the Gaels lost a heartbreaking opening game 15-12 to the three-time CIS defending champion Lethbridge Pronghorns. That game was tough to overcome and the Gaels surrendered a 32-3 loss 24 hours later to the No. 4 nationally ranked Concordia Stingers.