Trailing 58-54 to the No. 1 ranked team in U Sports basketball with one quarter remaining in the championship final, Carleton Ravens guard Kali Pocrnic said she didn’t have a doubt in her mind.
“When I look at my team […] I trust them completely,” Pocrnic said of a roster that was largely unchanged from its 2023 variant. “I know I have 15 girls that have my back, so it was never really a doubt because I knew we’d pull through.”
Pocrnic’s seven fourth-quarter points were a large factor in the Ravens’ eventual 70-67 win over the Saskatchewan Huskies, which earned the program its third-ever U Sports banner in Edmonton.
But she would never admit that.
“Every time she plays, I’m just speechless.”
Tatyanna Burke, Carleton Ravens guard
“I guess numbers-wise it does look like that sometimes, but […] I have to give it all to my team,” Pocrnic said. “When I say I know that they’re not gonna let me down, I know that I’m not gonna let them down and I will do anything for the team.”
Rather than asking Pocrnic herself, it’s better to let her coaches and teammates do the praising.
“There’s no one else in the country I’d want to have leading our team,” head coach Dani Sinclair said after her team’s quarterfinal win against the UFV Cascades. “She just wants the team to win. She’s our leader and the most selfless one you could ever imagine. Just a pleasure to coach.”
“Every time she plays, I’m just speechless,” Ravens guard Tatyanna Burke said after the Ravens’ semifinal win over the Queen’s Gaels. “There are no words because I’m always in awe.”
The path to such immense success wasn’t always so clear. The undersized five-foot-three guard has put in the work to get where she is today.
“I came into Carleton and I could not shoot the basketball at all,” Pocrnic said. “My coaches were able to push and train me to become the shooter and player I am today. So winning MVP and two national championships with my team […] is just crazy.”
Pocrnic wasn’t named to the U Sports’ season-ending All-Canadian First Team, which now looks laughable given her back-to-back tournament MVP and champion status. Pocrnic averaged 15.1 points per game in the OUA regular season, but averaged 21.7 in the national tournament, where it mattered most.
With most of the team eligible to return next season, there are plenty of reasons for Pocrnic to stay along the quest of a championship three-peat. Only guard Océane Kounkou and forward Hadeza Ismaila are ineligible to play next season.
Pocrnic is graduating after this term with a bachelor of arts in psychology but has one year of eligibility left.
For now, Pocrnic is taking a break before she makes her next move. Besides, she said she’s been swamped with school work since returning from Edmonton.
“For the last two weeks since playoffs started, I have pushed everything aside,” Pocrnic said.
When her bachelor’s degree is finally secured, she’s looking forward to working her fifth summer at Terra Greenhouses in Milton, Ont.
“I really need breaks from basketball sometimes just to think about other things,” Pocrnic said. “It’s nice when you start to miss the sport that you’ve been playing, so just having a month off is really crucial.”
Pocrnic said there is a pull to play ball in Europe, where many of her former Ravens teammates have flocked.
Emma Kiesekamp, Pocrnic’s former teammate and the first Ravens women’s basketball player to win two U Sports championships, played her first season for BS Leiden in the Netherlands this year.
“That’s definitely an option for me, and I think it would be really, really cool,” Pocrnic said.
“This program is amazing and there’s so many opportunities that it gives you,” Pocrnic said. “I knew coming into Carleton that they have that kind of mindset where they’re just trying to make you the best you can be. To see that work for a lot of people is extraordinary.”
Featured photo by Owen Spillios-Hunter.
