The Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team went 1-1 in their opening weekend at home, falling 55-51 to the No. 2 nationally ranked Windsor Lancers Nov. 19 and just squeaking past the University of Western Ontario Mustangs 72-71 the previous night.
The Ravens sit at 2-2 after their first two weeks of regular season play and are tied for third place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Ravens head coach Taffe Charles said he wasn’t entirely surprised with the result against the Lancers, who captured the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) title last season.
Charles said he was more concerned about the women’s poor play in the opening three quarters against the Mustangs, who are currently last in the OUA West division.
“I wasn’t happy overall with the whole game,” Charles said. “The result is very important, but the way we went about getting the win probably wasn’t the greatest. At the same time, we dominated them for one good quarter. We didn’t play like that for the first three. So I’ve got mixed emotions about that game.”
Charles said the team was more focused in the last quarter but poor defence plagued the women in the first three.
“They made some shots, they were hot,” he said. “But at the same time, we let them do whatever they wanted to do. And conversely, we didn’t make any shots.”
Coming off the shaky victory over Western, the Ravens had to face a strong Lancers squad, who are currently second place in the OUA West division just behind the 4-0 Brock Badgers.
The Lancers took the lead in the first quarter and while the Ravens kept the game close, they couldn’t gain the lead for themselves. The Ravens picked up their play in the fourth quarter and despite two three-pointers in fewer than 60 seconds, the Lancers held on to win the game by just four points.
“We had way more open shots than I thought we would’ve, but we just didn’t make anything,” he said. “I like to consider ourselves one of the better teams, but we have to beat the better teams to be considered one of them.
“If you shoot 22 per cent from the field, you’re just not going to win a game,” he continued. “We did a good job defensively and our effort level was there. [The remedy is] more practice and more shooting so we can have more confidence when we have open shots.”
Fifth-year forward Ashleigh Cleary said she thinks the team just needs to look ahead to the rest of the season and not concentrate on their average start to the season.
“We’re 2-2 right now,” Cleary said. “And I’m hoping that those two losses are under our belt and there won’t be any more. We have to play every game like it’s our last, because anyone can beat anyone.”
