The Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team won their second straight Critelli Cup over the McMaster Marauders 75-66 in Hamilton on March 3 in a memorable comeback win filled with late game tension.
“It’s nice to know that our hard work paid off,” forward Elizabeth Leblanc said. “We just had to make the decision to get it going but definitely during the game, it can be difficult at times to get through that barrier but I think we did it really well as a team.”
The Ravens were led by Catherine Traer with 17 points and Heather Lindsay with 15 points while Hilary Hanaka paced McMaster with 22 points and five assists.
Carleton headed into the game undefeated while McMaster was riding a 16-game winning streak.
The game got off to a defensive start as Hanaka went to work early. She drove on Lindsay to make it 4-2, also drawing a crucial foul as Lindsay got into foul trouble. First-year forward Emma Kiesekamp filled in.
“Obviously getting fouls really gets me rattled so going out in the third quarter, I just wanted to put it all behind me and start fresh and I thought I did a pretty good job of that, not worrying about the fouls, not worrying about playing softer to avoid fouls,” Lindsay said.
The Ravens’ ball movement helped give them their first lead of the game as Elizabeth Leblanc swung it to Nicole Gilmore who dished to Jenjen Abella for three.
The Ravens earned a slight lead as more ball movement led to open three-pointers for Madison Reid and Karyne Jolicoeur. The visitors ended the first quarter on top 20-16.
However, McMaster would fight back to open their own lead in the second. Olivia Wilson’s turnaround jumper capped off a 6-0 Marauders run.
While Ravens head coach Taffe Charles turned towards his bench—at times, having only one starter on the floor—McMaster extended their lead. Hanaka drove and scored while Sarah Gates knocked down a deep ball.
The Marauders attempted the most three-pointers during the regular season (663 compared to Carleton’s 562) and led Carleton 36-28 at halftime, outscoring them 20-8 in the second.
The Ravens made a 12-0 run while Lindsay, Traer, and Leblanc attacked the paint consecutively. Stephanie Carr gave Carleton the lead from beyond the arc again off a pass from Lindsay to make it 40-39, leading McMaster to call a timeout.
“We didn’t really talk about offence in the half-time,” Abella said. “We just literally needed to focus on defence and we know [Lindsay] needed to get going in the second half and we just tried to expose their matchup and we just kept going from there.”
However, like a classic heavyweight tilt, the Marauders punched back with seven straight points thanks to Hanaka’s two layups and a deep three by Linnaea Harper, prompting Charles to call time as they led 46-40.
The teams continued to exchange blows at Carleton ran their high-low sets, leading to Gilmore’s three-pointer at the top of the key. Hanaka would continue to produce as her three ball put the hosts up 51-48 before Leblanc finished from the baseline to make it 51-50 at the end of the third quarter.
Carleton started the fourth hot on a 5-0 run as they continued to stretch the McMaster defence. Traer found Abella for a three-pointer as the clock expired.
Lindsay scored four straight points as the Ravens opened up a relatively sizable 61-53 lead but again, McMaster would fight back.
Julia Hanaka (Hilary’s younger sister) converted a four-point play from deep to cut the score to 64-59. With under a minute left, Traer drilled a dagger three-pointer in front of the Carleton bench which erupted in applause.
Hilary Hanaka hit a three to keep McMaster’s hopes alive but free throws by Abella and Lindsay ensured Carleton’s second straight Ontario University Athletics title.
“I’d say nothing compares to the first,” Lindsay noted. “We never won anything before when we won it last year so we were all just so excited and we’re really excited about it this year, but our goal is to win the nationals.”
The Ravens will now travel to Regina for the U Sports national championships from March 8-11 as the number one seed and only undefeated team in the nation.
