The Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team punched their ticket to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Final Four with a resounding 84-62 victory over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues Feb. 25 at the Ravens’ Nest.
The Ravens completed their season-long sweep of the Varsity Blues with their quarter-final win. Fifth-year forward Ashleigh Cleary spearheaded the Ravens’ offence with 21 points.
Despite their overwhelming offensive efforts, the team’s focus wasn’t on scoring points.
“Our focus has always been our defence,” said fourth-year guard Alyson Bush. “That way, we could really force them to their weaknesses.”
The Ravens, who boasted an 18-point lead at the half, finished the regular season with a nine-game win streak. By earning themselves a bye week before the match-up with the Blues, fourth-year forward Kendall MacLeod said they already had the scales tipped in their favor.
“We were coming in with the advantage of having a week of rest,” she said. “It was harder for them because they had just played [Feb. 22] as well, so they obviously didn’t have as much time to prepare and rest.”
Bye week or not, it seemed Toronto wasn’t prepared for the intensity and work ethic of the Carleton outfit, who went 10-for-24 beyond the arc and picked up nine steals. The Varsity Blues, meanwhile, went 5-for-13 from three-point range and only picked up three steals.
“We weren’t expecting a blowout game,” MacLeod said. “We just came out harder and more aggressive, but we weren’t expecting to win by as much as we did.”
Their game plan has worked thus far, and may catapult the Ravens into the March 3 OUA final. However, to get there, the women must first defeat the University of Windsor Lancers March 2. In their lone regular season meeting, the Ravens lost 55-51 to the Lancers Nov. 19 at the Ravens’ Nest.
With a tough game ahead, MacLeod said she believes that, along with their continued defensive precision, some offensive tweaking may be necessary.
“I really think we can work on getting offensive rebounds and making open shots,” she said, while also re-articulating their focus on defence.
Despite the team’s impressive 18-5 record this season, Bush said the “ultimate goal is to go as far as [they] can.”
“Our focus has just been to never underachieve,” she added.
That formula seems to have worked well for the team last season, when they reached the OUA finals but fell 46-44 to the Lancers. But they’re not looking that far ahead just yet.
“We’re just taking it game by game,” she said. “We have to try and relax now, which is hard because obviously the stakes are high. But we’ve treated every game with importance, so we have to treat this the same, like just another game.”
