The Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team came out on top at the MBNA Capital Hoops Classic on Feb. 5 with a 73-50 win over the University of Ottawa (U of O) Gee-Gees.
The Ravens were not considered the favourites heading into the matchup against the 11-1 Gee-Gees. The last time the two teams met, U of O walked away with a 69-56 victory.
Plenty of streaks were extended and snapped by the conclusion of the game.
The Ravens extended their win streak to four while ending the Gee-Gees’ win streak at five. Carleton also snapped a two-game losing streak at the Capital Hoops Classic.
Last year the Gee-Gees won 46-40 and in 2013, 57-47. The Gee-Gees also routed the Ravens out of the playoffs in the Ontario University Athletics preliminary round.
The Ravens flew to a big lead in the first half of the game. They never trailed throughout the entire half and held the lead for over 18 of 20 minutes.
Heather Lindsay lead the way offensively in the first half with 12 points and 12 rebounds, and the Ravens defence only conceded 16 points.
“I thought we did a really good job starting the game strong,” Lindsay said. “We wanted to focus on getting the first hit and I felt like over time we went out there, we were able to hit them, and then they weren’t able to come back off of it.”
Ravens head coach Taffe Charles admitted he didn’t expect the Ravens to jump out to a big lead early in the game but said he was pleased by the effort.
“I’d be lying if I said I expected it,” he said. “I was hoping we would play with a bit more aggression and confidence. There’s a lot of parity in this league and [U of O] has been doing well.”
“I think anybody can beat anybody on any given day. I knew if we came out with a good effort, I thought we’d have an opportunity,” he said.
Lindsay continued her strong play in the second half, scoring a team high 18 points while adding 15 rebounds.
Carleton also had strong effort from Elizabeth Leblanc—who scored 15 points—while Lindsay Shotbolt added 14 points.
The Ravens dominated from start to finish, never trailing in the game, after taking an early commanding lead.
Carleton also found ways to contain the Gee-Gees offence throughout the game. Julia Soriano lead the Gee-Gees with 14 points while Catherine Traer only managed two points despite having averaged 17.9 points through seven games this season.
“I thought we were really aggressive and came out ready to win. I thought we really got them off their heels early, made a couple shots early. I’m really happy about the result,” Charles said. “This is quite a big showcase . . . I’m happy we were able to get the result—it is one game however, we still have a bunch of games to go, but I’m happy by how the result turned out.”
“Honestly, I’m not going to lie, the past couple years I’ve gotten really stressed out about playing in such a big stage,” Lindsay said. “But this year I felt like we were all more calm and composed and we were just able to play as a team, and going out there we weren’t nervous. I thought that was a huge step towards winning, being the most composed team.”
The Ravens will hit the court again on Feb. 12 when they travel to St. Catharines to take on the Brock Badgers.
