The Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team finished second at the McGill Redbird Classic Oct. 21-23, extending their pre-season record to 7-1.
The Ravens suffered their first loss of the pre-season against the University of Regina Cougars Oct. 21, but rebounded with wins against the Brock Badgers and the McGill Martlets the following two days.
In their tournament opener, the Ravens lost their first game against Regina 61-56, after a 13-point half time deficit ended up being too much to overcome. Fourth-year guard Alyson Bush led the scoring for Carleton with 13 points, while Kendall MacLeod and Jessica Resch were close behind, contributing with 12 and 11 points respectively.
“We played a good team in Regina, and we got off to slow start in the first half,” said Ravens head coach Taffe Charles said. “But apart from that first half, I thought we played pretty well this whole weekend.”
In their next game against the Brock Badgers, Carleton put on a dominating display at both ends of the floor, winning by a score of 66-48. MacLeod and Resch led the way for the Ravens, scoring 15 points apiece. Elizabeth Roach finished the game with 14 points.
“I think we played much better defensively after our first game,” MacLeod said. “We definitely picked up on our rebounding in the last two games.”
Unlike their first game when the Cougars doubled the Ravens’ rebounding totals, Carleton out-rebounded the Badgers by a 31-18 margin in the win.
The team pulled out a narrow victory in their last game of the tournament, edging the Martlets in a tight 55-52 battle. MacLeod led the team in scoring again with 12 points, while fifth-year veteran Ashleigh Cleary played a strong game offensively and defensively, putting up 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
The Ravens had a 12-point lead at halftime, and managed to hang on to their lead despite a second-half surge by the Martlets.
“We never gave up during any game,” Bush said. “There were times when we were down and tried to stay energized. That’s apparent both on the bench and on the court.”
Carleton has two more pre-season games to play before they kick-off their regular season against the McMaster Marauders on Remembrance Day.
Charles said he expects the competition and team mindset to change once the regular season begins. The Ravens haven’t played any pre-season games against their Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division competitors.
In the regular season, there’s a lot of familiarity between teams and certain playing styles, Charles said.
“Our ultimate goal is to win nationals, but we need to take it game-by-game since each game is as important as the next one,” Bush said.
“Our goal for every season is to win the [Canadian Interuniversity Sport] national championship,” Charles said. “It’s definitely quite a challenge to get there first, but if we get there this year, we feel like we can compete with anyone in Canada.”