The Carleton women’s basketball team couldn’t have ended 2009 at a better time, or worse. The lady Ravens finished on a high note with a four-game winning streak but are now going into the long winter break, and will have to try and keep the momentum for when they return in 2010.
“It’s a good time to rest mentally,” said head coach Taffe Charles. “But we’re still working out to be physically strong.”
The Ravens finished ’09 with a 6-3 record putting them in first place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) standings.
“We’ve been really focused and mentally tough,” Charles said.
In November, the lady hoopsters defeated Wilfred Laurier University 74-51 and the University of Waterloo 69-48. They continued their streak defeating Lakehead University 74-69 in an intense overtime win. They finished by defeating McMaster University 71-63.
“We’ve been practicing really hard and near the end, the streak pushed us to keep going,” said team veteran Aly Bush.
“It’s not just a streak but a reflection of how far we’ve come since the beginning of the year,” said team one of the team’s captains Ines Jelic.
However, now the Ravens will have to find a way to stay on fire throughout the long and cold winter break.
“It’s given us a taste of what we want but it’s far, far from over,” Bush said. “We want to reach it so bad.”
With that in mind the team will continue to practice during the break, focusing on physical strength.
“There’s a lot expected from anyone on a sports team, we’re still training all throughout the break,” Jelic said.
Bush agreed and said the team needs to be more aggressive and able to play the whole 40 minutes at 100 per cent in order to keep winning in 2010. She said continuing to train will help keep their focus and their fitness at a high level.
“We need to start taking it to the teams right away,” said Bush.
Jelic also said they will use the break to practice some new plays and strategies.
“We have a lot of individual players with more talent. The new plays will take advantage of people’s skills,” Jelic said.
Fortunately, the Ravens will get a chance to test their strength and new plays before getting back into the season at the Concordia-Reebok Invitational Women’s Basketball Tournament, which takes place from Dec. 29-31.
“It’s one of those tune-ups,” Charles said. “We can get the rust off from not playing for a month.”
The Ravens will begin the tournament by playing the McGill University Redmen. If they win, they go on to play Simon Fraser University, the 2009 Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) Champions.
“It’ll be a tough challenge but we really hope we get it,” Charles said.
Right now Simon Fraser’s undefeated record of 13-0, including preseason games, has yet to be challenged as they continue to beat teams 102-43, 99-39 and 110-73.
“It will be a great experience and give us a taste of Western basketball,” Jelic said.
Hopefully the tournament will help the lady Hoopsters to get fired back up for when they start off the 2010 season by playing Laurentian University on Jan. 8.