EDMONTON — The Carleton Ravens are back-to-back U Sports national champions.
The journey back to championship glory culminated in a nail-biting 70-67 win over the No. 1 seed Saskatchewan Huskies.
The Ravens’ successful title defence earns them their third championship banner in program history. The victory marks the first instance of a women’s basketball team winning consecutive U Sports titles since 2015 when the Windsor Lancers won their fifth straight title.
The recipe for the Ravens’ success?
According to back-to-back tournament MVP Kali Pocrnic, it all comes down to playing for each other.
“At the end of the day, as long as I get a win for my team and we’re all doing it for each other it really doesn’t matter,” Pocrnic said, who netted a team-high 18 points.
This team-first mentality shone brightly during a pivotal moment in the second quarter when forward Jacqueline Urban sustained an injury. Despite the setback, Urban persevered, playing crucial minutes for Carleton.
“[Urban] was hurt and she was like, ‘I’m fine, don’t worry about it, I’m doing it for you guys,’” Pocrnic said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that she put everything aside to do what she needed to do for the team.”
Urban contributed six points and a game-high 13 rebounds through adversity.
“This team has gotten to a point where they’ve prepared so hard and they’ve spent so much time together, so when they see one of their teammates go down, it’s like, ‘Ok, we’ve gotta step up,’” Ravens head coach Dani Sinclair said. “They play with a lot of pride in those moments.”
Facing a 58-54 deficit heading into the final quarter, it was only through a cohesive team effort that Carleton pulled together to surpass the Huskies’ supercharged offence.
“We base ourselves on our defence,” Sinclair said. “I thought we were scattered defensively for a lot of the game and a lot of the credit goes to Saskatchewan.”
Leading up to the fourth quarter, the Huskies had maintained their advantage over the Ravens, thanks to their tight defence and Carleton’s foul troubles. Adding to the challenge, Saskatchewan guard Gage Grassick proved nearly unstoppable, tallying 28 points on an impressive 62.5 field goal percentage.
“[Grassick] did a great job against us and got us out of rotations and left a lot of people open,” Sinclair said.
In the third quarter, Grassick frequently slipped through coverage, confusing the Ravens’ defence with her elite vision and elusiveness.
The Ravens were getting burned, but when it mattered most in the fourth quarter, they turned the tables, limiting Grassick to just two points and the Huskies to nine.
“I thought finally in the last three minutes we settled in and […] I’m just really proud of the performance we had defensively in the last three minutes,” Sinclair said.
But the defensive effort wouldn’t have been possible without a lead to protect.
Almost halfway through the fourth quarter, Huskies forward Carly Ahlstrom sunk two buckets, including a three-pointer from the wing, putting her team up 63-59. It seemed a large deficit to overcome, given how little Saskatchewan was offering on defence.
However, a three-pointer from guard Dorcas Buisa and a two-point score for Tatyanna Burke right after put Carleton back on top. The team only surrendered four more points in the remaining four minutes.
Pocrnic came in clutch when it mattered, just as Sinclair noted after their quarterfinal win against the UFV Cascades.
In the fourth quarter, Pocrnic scored seven crucial points, including a three and a pair of buckets in the dying minutes to push Carleton comfortably ahead. When nobody else could break through the Huskies’ stifling defence, Pocrnic’s determination to penetrate the paint and sink a step-back jumper made the difference.
Armed with a 70-67 lead with just over ten seconds remaining, Carleton actively deployed all the tactics to prevent the Huskies from getting a quality shot that could tie the game.
“We were just trying to make sure that nobody got a clean shot off and switching all screens,” Sinclair said.
It worked. A few moments of confusion with the timekeeper ensued, and then the buzzer sounded, signalling the end of another historic Ravens season, ushering in the confetti.
After securing not-so-close wins to reach the national championship final, the Ravens acknowledged the ultimate challenge posed by the Huskies in the matchup.
“We’ve faced some tough teams in the OUA, we’re in one of the toughest divisions in the country,” Sinclair said. “But that was a tough group to play against and we have a lot of respect for them.”
“It’s always fun to know that there’s always tougher teams to look out for,” Pocrnic said.
With a flight back to Ottawa scheduled for this morning, Sinclair said the team is looking forward to spending time with each other, along with their proud friends and family who made the trek to Edmonton.
Featured image by Owen Spillios-Hunter/The Charlatan.
